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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23785564">My Love-Life Is Really Not That Interesting – Or So I thought</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geneviev/pseuds/Geneviev'>Geneviev</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Percy Jackson and the Olympians &amp; Related Fandoms - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bottom!Percy, Characters Reading, Coming Out, Cookies, Depressed Percy Jackson, Dreams, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mentioned Incest Because They Are Greek Gods, Not Typical Reading the Books, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Past Child Abuse, Percy Doesen't Get a Break, Percy Is Not Amused, Polyamory, Reading the Books, Self-Discovery, Self-Worth Issues, Sexual Content, Slow Burn, Spanking, Tags May Change, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Unreliable Narrator, anger issues, percy wants a break</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 21:40:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>35,310</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23785564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Geneviev/pseuds/Geneviev</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>After fulfilling the Great Prophecy, Percy finds himself alone and depressed. He stumbles upon some interesting facts from the ancient past, which leads him to find out more about himself.</p>
<p>But nothing is easy for the big hero – while trying to accept himself, the Fates have other plans: to change the past and future, they send five demigods and one oracle to 2005.</p>
<p>Yeah, Percy is not amused.</p>
<p>(Percabeth is mentioned, but that relationship will change: Percy will be with Nico, that's for sure, but there may be others for him - thus the polyamory tag.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Annabeth Chase &amp; Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson mentioned, Apollo/Percy Jackson, Ares/Aphrodite/Hephaestus (mentioned), Luke Castellan/Percy Jackson (unrequited), Nico di Angelo &amp; Thalia Grace &amp; Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson, Percy Jackson &amp; Clarisse La Rue, Rachel Elizabeth Dare &amp; Percy Jackson, more relationships to be added - Relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>118</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>471</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Love-Life? What Is That?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This chapter may seem familiar, that's because I uploaded before, but then I changed the story's direction, so I deleted it.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><em>Zeus has a cup-bearer slash lover called Ganymedes who he abducted as an eagle</em>. I wonder, what did Hera do to him, or is he still alive and is Zeus’s lover…</p>
<p><em>Zeus had sex with Leda as a swan</em>. Not my style, but whatever. It’s not like the bestiality-thing is common.</p>
<p><em>Pasiphae had sex with a bull and became pregnant with the Minotaur</em>. Okay, that one I knew, I have his horn as my first spoil of war. But… A bull? Even if she was cursed by my father… She. Had. Sex. With. A. Bull. And had a kid.</p>
<p>Apollo’s love life was a disaster, better not to say anything about that. It’s just so sad, even when the love between him and his lover was real and requited, it becomes a tragedy. I hope, someday, he will find his happy ending.</p>
<p><em>Zeus, as a golden rain, impregnated Danae and thus Perseus, my namesake was born.</em> Suuure, that’s just… No. I don’t want to think about the mechanics. It’s just weird. No other comment is needed.</p>
<p><em>Hades’ lover in the Middle Ages, Merga Bien, thought she had sex with the literal, hoofed-and-horned Satan and became crazy and did infanticide</em>. I hope the latter thing was just a false confession. To kill her own babies… Big no. </p>
<p><em>Ixion had sex with a cloud, and they are the centaurs’ ancestors</em>. Why do we have to study biology? It certainly doesn’t work like it is supposed to. If a cloud can have children, why sexual education doesn’t mention it? Or at least we need an Apollo kid to teach us about the godly version of sex-ed, because if we can also have kids from inanimate objects, then we have to know!! Or is there another introduction film I didn’t get to see?</p>
<p><em>Zeus had sex with Europa (the woman, not the continent) as a bull</em>. I call bullshit! No way bestiality was that common in ancient Greece! Also, I find it hard to not notice that most of the bizarre Greek god stories’ protagonist is Uncle Zeus.</p>
<p>Like his wife is his sister and had a kid with his other sister, had said daughter’s virginity and is the son of a brother-sister couple. Yeah… weird.</p>
<p>Conclusion: gods have no shame and they don’t learn from their mistakes and again and again have sex in different forms with willing or unwilling persons and they are freaking potent and can have unwanted kids from anything.</p>
<p>Look. I didn’t want to be a demigod. Most of the time our life ends with torture and painful deaths. We are unwanted and belittled and used by the gods who take advantage of our existence. It’s fucked up and causes many, many anger and hate. And depression – we can’t forget about that! But, when you can live after your sixteenth birthday, even if you didn’t think you would, it becomes pretty boring. The gods did what I… well… to be honest, blackmailed them, and now there is nothing to do anymore. I go to school, fight with some stray monsters and help Paul understand my freaking insane life better.</p>
<p>And if I, Percy Jackson, must help somebody with the whole gods-are-real thing, I have to be better prepared – this is me preparing. And finding out truths about the whole world I live and fight in.</p>
<p>So, all these myths mean that a, Aphrodite lost her touch or b, she didn’t make my love life that interesting as she promised. Threatened. I can’t decide. My love life is pretty boring and predictable. I mean, sure, Annabeth and I are the power couple of the camp, but we are not in love. The camp pressured us to be an item, we are just best friends. So, I don’t count her.</p>
<p>When I landed in Ogygia, I fell in love with Calypso, but I think, it was just her curse, not real love. Also, I had to leave her, so half a point? It may have been amusing for the Goddess of Love? For me – not so much. Okay, that means a whole point. She is one of my many biggest regrets – not as a love interest, but because I don’t know what happened to her after I told the gods to let her go.</p>
<p>Rachel, our Oracle is a “what-if”, she is pretty badass, but she became a virgin oracle after our not-exactly-a-date. Okay, one more point to Aphrodite. Still, Annabeth does not count, so to have two girls-who-didn’t-happen is not exactly unique. The circumstances are extraordinary but even my mom’s love life is more eventful than mine. </p>
<p>Well, this may sound like I’m disappointed that Aphrodite didn’t screw up my life – I’m not. It’s just… I don’t like that my first and only relationship is with a girl I love like my sister. I want somebody for me, somebody who loves me and accepts me as I am. A reckless idiot of a demigod, who regularly irritates the gods to death. I annoy them to <em>my</em> death, I suppose. </p>
<p>Annabeth is great, my best friend since we were twelve, but she always wants me to change. She keeps calling me Seaweed Brain, and other names, which now are nicknames but were insults first. And while I understand why she is using them; I can’t help but feel like a failure every time I hear these affectionate names. I know I’m not that smart or I can’t make a working plan for the sake of gods, but I’m not that an idiot. Or at least mom doesn’t think so.</p>
<p>I lean towards believing Annabeth, after all, she is the daughter of the Goddess of Wisdom and mom is biased. I don’t know a lot of things about the gods’ history – my family history. I tried to memorize what Chiron thought me as Mr. Brunner, and what Annabeth told me, but it’s hard. So yes, she has a reason why she calls me an idiot every time we meet somebody famous and I don’t recognize who the Tartarus he or she is. So that’s why I decided to look up for Greek mythology in the school’s library. I mean, on the internet, not in the books – maybe the monsters won’t notice, there are many others sitting next to me.</p>
<p>What I found on the internet is so much interesting than Annabeth’s lectures! For one, they have illustrations. Like, not just a list with the names and their domains, but family trees with little paintings of the gods and between them, there are lines to make it clear who is whose child. There are a lot of lines, but at least now I understand that River Lethe (or Goddess Lethe) is my third cousin. Not exactly a noteworthy or valuable fact, but I didn’t know this before.</p>
<p>Also, the internet has sex-related information. Annabeth doesn’t have. Or maybe she has, just didn’t want to tell me. But – sex. I mean, I’m a healthy, 16-year-old male, of course, I think about sex. Even if I don’t have sex with anybody, cause, you know… My girlfriend is like my sister?</p>
<p>But, as I read it correctly, there is no obstacle for the gods – not incest, not bestiality, not… Nothing. Maybe death? I didn’t read about necrophilia… Yes, I looked up its name because, before this “quest” on the internet, I didn’t even hear some of these words and I was curious.</p>
<p>And now I get most of the stories, I red about a lot of weird sex thing and I think we, modern demigods are in a much better place. Because, if Aphrodite thinks my love life is interesting, then she forgot the ancient times and the other gods did too. So now we only have to go on quests, most of the time – apart from my crazy quests - is to search for silly things like Persephone’s mirror or Plutus’ gold bar, and don’t have to worry about crazy gods raping every beautiful person in animal form.</p>
<p>But… well…</p>
<p>It’s certainly interesting that not just godly sexuality is multifaced, but human sexuality also has so many forms!</p>
<p>Before this little expedition, I’ve heard about homosexuality and bisexuality – not hard to learn about them as I live in NY, but the others…</p>
<p>Look. In my early teens, I lived with a homophobe, abusive bastard of a stepfather. Then I spent most of my time either running for my life, fighting for the gods’ life, or studying through my dyslexia for my mother’s sake. Not the best circumstances to learn about sexuality when I couldn’t even learn about archery. So, yeah. I had to find out about the Kinsey-scale, genderfluidity, asexuality, and other things in my school’s library where everybody could see what I am doing.</p>
<p>Also, that I may not be as straight as I assumed before all this new information. Cause… you know. Luke.</p>
<p>Yeah, I don’t want to think of him either.</p>
<p>But the thing still stands: I’m… I have no idea, <em>what</em>, but I am <em>that</em>.</p>
<p>Okay, Percy, good. The first step to change things is to recognize something is not right. Done. Easy-peasy. And I did it without Wise Girl’s help, hah! I wonder when she realized what I just found out. If it was on my first day at camp when I stared at Luke with awe, then I have to sink in the bottom of the lake and never resurface. If it was when I become obsessed with bringing Nico back to the camp, then it’s fine.</p>
<p>Now I’m curious.</p>
<p>As I go out of the school and walk down on the steps, I call Annie with my monster-proof cellphone. It doesn’t have internet, which is a sad fact that needs to be corrected, but I can call the other demigods without finding a rainbow. Not like I call them often, most of the time I just speak with Annie or maybe Rachel and sometimes Clarisse and Thalia. I’m surrounded by girls… I can’t even talk with Nico, he just completely disappeared after the war, Grover is busy looking after the wild and Tyson is with our father.</p>
<p>“So, when did you find out, that I’m not completely heterosexual?” I ask my Wise Girl when she picks up the phone. It’s not like we need greetings anymore.</p>
<p>“Hello to you, too,” says Annie sarcastically. Well, maybe she needs a greeting? Oops. “Finally figured it out, huh… Well, I was suspicious when we went our first quest and before our departure, you were almost as red as I was when Luke talked to you.” Her cheerful voice loses her smugness when she mentions Luke’s name, but she continues smoothly. “You were awfully taken with Apollo when he helped us with the hunters, but your very complicated relationship with Nico was the evidence I needed to be sure.” Hmm… okay, I don’t need to hide from my obliviousness, but close.</p>
<p>“Wait… Apollo?” I stop my steps suddenly. Somebody walks into me and tells me off annoyed, but I’m too surprised to apologize. Apollo, I did not consider as somebody I fancied. When did we…? Oh, yeah. The manticore, the tiny, starry-eyed Nico, the hunters, the sun-chariot. The extremely handsome, tall, and muscular god with long golden locks and blue eyes that shine like the sun. Yeah, I get it.</p>
<p>“Hmm.” Annabeth makes a noncommittal sound, which sounds a bit distracted. Figures, she can’t stop being the architect of the Olympus even when she is talking to someone. “You only called me to ask about this, or were there anything else?” Way to make your best friend feel like a burden. I know she didn’t mean like that, but it was an important discovery for me. For her, on the other hand, it’s old news.</p>
<p>“No, nothing, really,” I tell her. I will deal with it, find out what I want from my life, alone. I could figure out my not-straight sexuality, I can cope with not knowing anything about anything.</p>
<p>Well, maybe I won’t figure it out alone. When in doubt, go to mom and tell her everything – it’s a sound strategy since never, but maybe now I find the courage to tell her what concerns me.</p>
<p>Yeah, and while at it, no god will interrupt or anything.</p>
<p>Sure, believable.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Wet dreams and realisations</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>So... this happened.<br/>Even when I want to write something sexual, Percy just stays depressed. Poor baby...</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Doctor, I think I sprained my ankle again.” I hear myself saying the words, but I can’t recognize my voice. It’s so much more innocent than my normal speaking voice, so much higher, but not like I'm in serious pain. I feel biting in my lips, but I don’t know where I am and what am I doing. Other than in the infirmary because I sprained my ankle, apparently.</p><p>“This is the fourth time this week and it is only Thursday! Some would think the big hero of the camp would be more careful with his health…” says somebody. His voice is deep and warm, like a sunny summer afternoon. While his words sound like a reprimand, it feels like it’s coming from someone who is more amused than anything else. I find it weird that I can’t see the voice’s owner. He – because he is clearly a male with his deep voice and tall, but muscular figure – is standing in front of me, but I can’t make out his face, his eyes, his hair, not even his coloring, only that he has a white medical gown, so he must be the doctor.</p><p>I’m not panicking, but my heart beats faster and faster as he slowly walks next to me. The next moment I find myself in the air: he picked me up like I’m a princess. I’m not impressed. Not even a tiny-teeny bit. Nope.</p><p>“You should take care of yourself. What would we do without our beloved hero?” His blurry lips stretch into a mischievous smile, and I can’t help but relax in his protective arms. His smell is also like summer: freshly cut grass, heated ground, but also the refreshing summer rain. It calms me but simultaneously excites me. I bury my face into his neck, as I reply to him.</p><p>“I am so sorry, doctor! I am trying but I need to be stronger, I can’t just stop training.” He puts me down on the infirmary’s bed and crouches down at the end of the bed to examine my ankle. I don’t have any pain, but his hands are soothing on my leg, I feel myself loosening. </p><p>“But good boys should know when to stop and rest, don’t you think? Or are you not a good boy?” asks the unknown man. I feel my cheeks getting warmer, and there is fluttering in my stomach. Not like when I’m getting into worrying situations, but a good kind of thrill. I, a good boy? Nobody ever said to me. I’m a troubled kid, an insolent brat, a burden – not a good boy.</p><p>But I want to be.</p><p>“I want to be a good boy”, I confess without my conscious permission.</p><p>“You can be a good boy. My good boy”, promises the doctor. I blush, my heart beats a thousand miles, my throat tightens. His good boy.</p><p>I look at him with my eyes wild open, and I nod. I can’t see his expression, but his movements become like a predator’s, who just found the most delicious prey. He leans down to whisper into my ear.</p><p>“If you want to be my good boy, then you have to earn it.” I shudder. His voice is like caramel: warm and sweet and utterly alluring.</p><p>I ask him how I could do that. I’ve never been somebody’s good boy. I want to be his. I don’t recognize myself, my feelings. It’s so strange, yet I feel like I really need it.</p><p>“Turn around and put your ass in the air”, he whispers in my ear. A tingling sensation spreads from my abdomen throughout my whole body, making me shiver in a most pleasurable way. I bite in my lower lip, and I do as he orders. Usually, I hate when somebody wants to tell me what to do, but now I don’t want to reject him. I feel conflicted because I should know what’s up with this situation, but at the same time, I’m content with it. I feel like I’m floating, but I’ve never been more alive like right now. I know something is not right, but I can’t do anything about it. I won’t do anything about it.</p><p>His hands are all over my body. One of them is gently touching my flustered cheek, but the other is wandering into my pants. I don’t understand what’s happening, but I’m not afraid. I’m excited and exhilarated, and nervous, of course, but not afraid.</p><p>He is pushing my shorts down, and I hear a sharp intake of breath.</p><p>“No underwear? You are such a good boy for me”, chuckles my unknown doctor and strokes my bare cheeks. The cool air of the infirmary, his deep, rumbling voice, his gentle touching is making my head spin. Lots of sensation, so new and thrilling feelings, I can’t even process most of them. The only thing I know is that I don’t want this to end. I want his hands on me, I want to be his good boy. I want everything he gives to me.</p><p>I turn back my head to throw a pleading look at him. I don’t know what I want from him, I don’t know what he wants from me, but I want it so badly like I’ve never wanted before. As he moves his hand in circles on my ass, I close my eyes tightly in anticipation.</p><p>Yes.</p><p>Something snaps on skin. First, I don’t even realize, but then I feel a sharp, stinging pain in my ass. Another hit is coming down, and I yelp in a pained surprise. </p><p>“Are you all right?” He asks while rubbing my bottom. I stare at him with wide eyes. He is… spanking me.</p><p>And I don’t want him to stop.</p><p>I blush furiously, but nod, so he continues with another slap. I feel… I feel aroused. My cock is hard, I don’t know when did this happen, but I’m turned on and I’m getting spanked, and everything is just… Right.</p><p>It should feel wrong, but it’s not.</p><p>I tentatively buck my hips against the pillow under my legs, and after the fifth slap, I start to whimper pathetically. I try to stop this sound coming from me and I bit into my hand in vain – he immediately takes my hand away from my mouth and shushes me.</p><p>“You are a very good boy; you bear the spanking so well. You don’t have to be embarrassed; I want to hear you. I want to hear you being in pleasure, the sounds you make.” He pets my head. I’m a good boy; I can take whatever he wants. Just let me be his good boy and let me cum. I bite my lips instead of my hand to force back the begging. Because right now the only thing I want to do is to plead for more. </p><p>More friction, more hit on my bottom, more <em>him</em>. But he told me he wanted to hear me. So… I could ask for what I want? Maybe he won’t laugh at me?</p><p>“Please”, I beg. My voice is hoarse and cracks at the end of the word.</p><p>“What do you want, Perseus? Tell me and I give it to you. My dear good boy”, whispers the doctor. Hearing my name, I lose myself, and a white-hot, pulsing pleasure runs through my whole body. The first time he used my name, and I came without further help. I close my eyes in the intense feeling, and when I open them…</p><p>I’m on my bed at my parents’ apartment.</p><p>Was it just a dream? I find it hard to gather myself, my limbs feel as heavy as if they were made of stone, my head is full of fluffy white clouds. And my cock is still aching hard.</p><p>Sooo… That was… Something.</p><p>I don’t know I should be creeped out or turned on. I mean, I know, I’m turned on, I didn’t cum like I did it in my dream, but like… Shouldn’t be this weirder? Shouldn’t I be concerned that my subconscious wants to be spanked? And maybe fucked? And controlled?</p><p>And… praised. That I want to be somebody’s <em>good boy</em>?</p><p>I feel I should be bothered. So why am I not?!</p><p>Was this dream because of what I red the other day? Or because finally, I let myself relax enough to consider other options than a relationship with my almost-sister? Or because the thing I don’t want to confess even to myself, like that I’m tired of being strong and being the hero, who is not even a real hero?!</p><p>I just want to be able to lean back and have someone else taking care of me. Being strong for me, strong enough to help me relax and live happily. But at the same time, I don’t want to lose myself. I don’t want to give up my friends, my priorities, my hobbies. I don’t want to become a sex-slave, or whatever. I just… I just want to be loved.</p><p>Am I asking too much?</p><p>I don’t know. There is a lot of things I do not know, do not understand. Before the war, it was easy: go on quests, train, stay alive. After the war, I did the expected: I got together with Annabeth, I went back to school without any second thought. But now… Now I believe everything is different.</p><p>Like I’m a whole new person, I don’t even recognize. Before, my only desire was to live and let everybody else live. It was not a well-thought aspiration, but at least I had a goal. Right now I don’t have one, but I have millions – only I don’t know what are those. </p><p>But even if I knew what I want, there would be no one to have a relationship with. Who would want to be the hero’s protector? Who would want to protect me, take care of me, discipline me, and keep me grounded? Every kid in the camp, every god only see me as a reckless, insolent brat of a hero, who would do anything for his friends and family, who slays monsters left and right. I’m the one they depend on, the one they wanted to save them. I couldn’t even do that – Luke was the hero, not me. They don’t know my insecurities, my fears, my memories, my nightmares. They only see what they want to see.</p><p>It’s kind of ridiculous how much I depend on being liked. Living with Gabe, having no friends before camp is really having its toll on my relationships. I fear losing those I gained, I fear them hating me. I know I have problems, but who could I talk to? Mortals would send me into a mental hospital, and demigods don’t have somebody who not only heals their body but also their mind.</p><p>While thinking about these depressive thoughts, I find myself under my blue, ocean-themed blanket. It’s dark in here and lonely, just like my mood. Ladies and gentlemen: this is how you can go to being horny to being gloomy! I knew I can learn from Nico – I just didn’t think it would be "how to be too depressed to function".</p><p>Aaaaand now I miss him… Great.</p><p>Even if we didn’t have happy memories together, most of the time it was hatred and glares and snarky remarks, but as Annie said, our relationship is unique. I mean, from my perspective – I get that he hates me, and any kind of relationship other than being allies during the war was unthinkable on his end. I understand why since Bianca died, he hated me, but at the same time, he was always there when I needed help. He was my dark, scary, anti-social deathly guardian angel. I miss him as who he is now, but I also miss the days when Nico was still happy, who could smile to the world. Whose eyes were full of awe and wonderment. The boy I killed when I let his sister die.</p><p>Fortunately, now we have a close friendship; at least the war was good for something. We talked about our problems, it was a very emotional night. So emotional we don’t speak about it to avoid the misunderstanding that Nico is sentimental.</p><p>He was always special to me; I just didn’t realize.</p><p>There are a lot of things I didn’t realize at the time. It’s kind of <em>overwhaleming </em>to finally comprehend.</p><p>Hah, a sea pun – it seems I’m perfectly fine. Or at least I will be.</p><p>Someday.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The Fates Fuck Up My Life - What's New?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Is there something wrong? You are strangely well-behaved lately”, asks mom concerned when I finally venture out of my room for something other than going to school. I sigh and sit down to the chair to watch my mother bake my favorite cookie. I think I haven’t been with her since I had that dream, which was… two weeks ago, I think.</p>
<p>“There is nothing to do right now”, I shrug. Except having an existential crisis, but who cares, right?</p>
<p>“Still, it’s not like you. Can’t you at least invite your friends without mention it to me so I could have a heart attack?” Complains mom. I would laugh but I know she really means I should do something like this because that’s a Percy thing to do. I’m always causing her trouble. “All you do all day is studying, looking up mythological things to learn from, and going to school. You never speak with your friends, not even Nico comes out of nowhere to be scary and mysterious. What’s going on with you?” She puts the cookies into the fridge to cool down the butter in it and comes to sit down next to me. “Talk to me”, she pleads and gently pets my hair. She is the best mother in the world. </p>
<p>I’m trying to be a good person, a good son. I always made trouble for her, me, and Gabe. I was a problem child when I was just a dyslexic, hyperactive kid – I am a fucked up son since I know I’m a monster-magnet. </p>
<p>She doesn’t deserve this. Not a demigod for a son, not somebody who causes problems, who is a freak. I love her and I’m happy that she found Paul for herself. I’m content to be home, but I have to be good. I have to be a good son so Paul wouldn’t leave her. He is a nice guy, but a mortal. He doesn’t have to deal with a not-yet-decided-sexual, trouble-magnet demigod stepson. If he hates me, he would leave mother. I know she would let him because she always has me as her priority.</p>
<p>“Mom, there is nothing with my friends. They have things to do and I need to be able to finish high school.” I smile at her, but I see in her eyes that she doesn’t believe me.</p>
<p>Maybe we could… talk? Like, honestly talk? Paul is not here right now, so he doesn’t have to hear yet another freaky thing, but I could talk with mom. I know, it’s normal. I read a lot of stuff, so even if I wouldn’t be a demigod, my not-straight sexuality would be normal. But with all of my shit, it’s just another thing that makes me a mess.</p>
<p>“I just want what’s best for you. Please, tell me, what’s happening”, says mom softly, and kisses my head.</p>
<p>“So…”, I start to talk, but my voice just cracks. “The other day I was reading about ancient Greek stuff.”</p>
<p>“Okay, go on”, smiles mom at me and takes my hand. I didn’t realize but because of all these stressing thoughts, I started breaking my knuckles.</p>
<p>“And I realized that there are… That not only heterosexuality and homosexuality exists. And that I had crushes on guys. And that I’m not okay.” I start to shake uncontrollably. I may smile and joke and Annie may have thought I was fine with everything, but I’m not. I’m really not.</p>
<p>“Oh, Percy.” Mom sounds a little heartbroken, but before I could run away from her and this whole situation, she grabs me and hugs me tightly. I struggle a bit, but I find myself relaxing in her warm embrace. Her familiar smell, her motherly hug, her everything makes me feel like I’m a child again, whose most important person in the whole world is his mother. Well, I am a teenager, whose most important person is his mother, but whatever.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry you had to go through this alone. I hope you know that I don’t care, I love you just as you are. There is no need to hide anything from me. I love you.” I feel myself at ease like I didn’t feel a long time. I know everything is not magically solved, but at least this moment I’m feeling more normal. I just needed my mother.</p>
<p>“Thank you”, I whisper. There are more issues, like my insomnia, my PTSD, the whole I-had-a-crush-on-somebody-who-wanted-to-kill-me thing. But my mother loves me, and she is here with me. Anything else is secondary.</p>
<p>“Percy, there is a problem.” Suddenly a familiar voice scares me, but when I turn around with Riptide in my hand, it’s just Annie. In the background, I see the marbles of Olympus, the whole cloud-like place is full of life. A few dryad giggle and wave to me, and I raise my eyebrows. It doesn’t seem like trouble.</p>
<p>“Of course, there is always a problem”, I shrug and lower my sword. Wise Girl shakes her head. I see in her eyes that she is stressed, I don’t think she sleeps any more than I do. She is always working, always wants to be the best, wants to make her mother proud.</p>
<p>“No, this is something else. The Fates are here and there is big fighting in the throne room. I don’t know what’s happening, but I feel it is connected to us.” I hate them. The Fates. They mess up our lives, they decide who needs to die, who needs to fight. I can’t help but agree with Annie. If there is something I learned, it is that we, demigods are always the losers when the gods are feeling angry. Even when they are happy or content, but when they are angry, it is much harder for us.</p>
<p>Well… I had so much free time to wallow, hadn’t I?</p>
<p>Suddenly, I feel a tug in my stomach, and I see mom at the wrong end of the IM message. Before I could say something, Thalia, Rachel, Clarisse and Nico fell from the sky – or ceiling, or whatever – next to us.</p>
<p>Well, I did say, I miss him, didn’t I? I just didn't think it would be like this when we meet again the next time.</p>
<p>“Be careful, Percy I love you”, says mom, and the IM disconnects. I turn around to get a clue, what the Tartarus are we doing here, but everything is fine. Except for the way the gates of the throne room opens with a big bang.</p>
<p>O-o… That seems inviting.</p>
<p>Not.</p>
<p>“<em>Come, demigods</em>”, says an echoing voice in my head. I glance at the others, and they seem to be as freaked out as I feel, so I’m not hallucinating. I catch Nico’s eyes, who grimaces, but motions with his head towards the room.</p>
<p>Sure, heroes first, right?</p>
<p>I sigh but I take the first step. The others follow me into the unknown.</p>
<p>What’s new?</p>
<p>We arrive in a strangely quiet throne room, where the Olympians are pretty much on the edge of the explosion. Zeus looks like he wants to smite everybody in this room and more, Hera, on the other hand, looks like she bit into a lemon. Or like she had to say something nice about a demigod, I don’t know which one is the worst-case scenario for her. No. It’s Hera, of course, the latter!</p>
<p>The other gods are not much better, but nobody speaks, not even when we enter without greeting. All of them look at the same place: the Fates.</p>
<p>The three old ladies, who were causing me grief for some time.</p>
<p>“<em>The Queen had a plan. It was awful, it would have messed up everybody’s thread. It would end up with an okay outcome but would have changed so many lives. So, no, Hera, you can’t wipe out Perseus’ memories to try to save the world. Instead of this, we send you, six demigods, back in time to read Perseus Jackson’s memories to prevent this war and the following war before they happen. Good luck</em> <em>– you will need it</em>” says the voice ominously.</p>
<p>I don’t think any of us comprehend what they are saying, but we don’t have time to formulate questions: the same strange sensation that brought me here is back again, and we are dropped down in the same room. Just… </p>
<p>… Not at the same time, I guess?</p>
<p>I glance around me, and I see that my best friends and my cousins are okay, so I gather enough strength in me to analyze the situation. It’s definitely not good, because we are undeniably not where we were before. I remember the Fates’ words and I’m a bit confused: Rachel is not a demigod, so is there someone else who they wanted to send instead of Rachel, or was it because it’s easier?</p>
<p>I don’t know. It’s the Fates, what can you expect from them?!</p>
<p>“Who the Tartarus are you and what are you doing here?!” rumbles the drama god, Uncle Zeus. He looks like he wants to use his magic stick – I mean, his Very Important Lightning Bolt on us, but fortunately the Fates intervene.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn’t imagine that I would think this sentence either.</p>
<p>A stack of books drops in the lap of Hera, who reads aloud the paper attached to it.</p>
<p>“These six demigods are under our protection, so none of you can harm them. The six of them are from the future and these books are about one of them: a special demigod, who saved all of you from the worst fate you can imagine. But the following two wars are evitable, not necessary to have them in their life-thread. You will read these books and learn from them so you can stop the wars and have a better future. The demigods can’t tell you anything, not even their godly parent! Everything will be explained in the books.” She stops and glares at us. Bitch. “The time will stop at the outside world, but in exchange for that, your time will flow here like it is in the books. So, after reading them, all of you will be five years older. Before you begin, call Hades! Good reading, the Fates.”</p>
<p>Of fucking course.</p>
<p>They did it. They really did it.</p>
<p>They sent us back in time. And now we have to read MY thoughts to LEARN from them?!</p>
<p>And we will grow as we read?! Five years older?! How…?! What will happen to us? Our family?! I can’t even…</p>
<p>Of course, I’m salty about this! I’m the son of Poseidon, of course, I’m a salty bitch. I’m the fucking saltiest bitch of the Fates.</p>
<p>Thanks for nothing, assholes!</p>
<p>While I rant in my head about the fucking trainwreck I call my life, Hades appears in a blinding light along with Persephone and is clued in the happenings.</p>
<p>“If I may, what year is it, my Lords and Ladies?”, asks Annie respectfully. Thalia scowls when she looks at her father, but also looks interested in the answer. I am too.</p>
<p>“It’s 2005, child”, answers Lady Hestia, the only respected god – or goddess among the Olympians. So, it’s before my first quest, before I knew my heritage, before Luke steel the lightning bolt. Okay, we can work with this.</p>
<p>Or not, if they read my real thoughts… Then it will be my end, but who cares, right?!</p>
<p>“Introduce yourself!” orders Hera, who is decidedly not a happy camper. I don’t think she likes demigods. I don’t know why. I mean, we are the byproduct of cheating, but not all of us are – Apollo, Hermes, and many other gods are single. And… you know… they depend on us, so without us, they would stop existing. So I don’t understand how could be somebody so prideful and full of themselves that they would rather stop being than at least tolerate us.</p>
<p>Whatever. One way or other there will be changes.</p>
<p>I just hope, it won’t be because the little loophole the Fates left for the gods. You know, the one, when they told the gods they can’t harm us, but they didn’t say anything about our past selves. Yeah, it sucks to be us.</p>
<p>“Thalia Grace”, says the bravest of us and bows down a little. Hera's eyes are like a blazing fire, full of hatred and killing intent. Have I ever said that I hate her?</p>
<p>“But… you are a…” starts my father awkwardly.</p>
<p>“…A tree. Yes, but it will be explained”, nods my punk cousin. I haven’t seen her since the war, she was occupied with the Hunt, but sometimes we talked through our phones. Our relationship began tensely, we became super close lately.</p>
<p>She has a bow slung across her back, her usual black and blue clothes are a little bit thorn, and the silver circlet of the lieutenant of Artemis is resting the top of her short, black hair. The virgin goddess eyes her thoughtfully but doesn’t ask.</p>
<p>“Annabeth Chase” continues Annie the introduction. She is also a known demigod, while her past self didn’t meet Athena yet, she is obviously her mother’s daughter. The grey eyes are a dead giveaway, but also her proud posture is the same as her mother’s. </p>
<p>“Clarisse la Rue”, says the War Princess in a gruff voice. She is not unmistakably her father’s daughter, but the God of War straightens in his throne. Well, at least he is not as much of an asshole, to not recognize his own daughter.</p>
<p>When I met her the first time, I never would have thought we will be close to each other, but then again – all my friendships, apart from Grover, begun with animosity. Our relationship is not normal, not like we talk about our feelings, and stuff, but it’s honest and strong. I like her and her attitude, but I think being with Chris is good for her. She is not softer, but a bit warmer? I don’t know…</p>
<p>“Rachel Elizabeth Dare.” My immortal mortal friend is like fresh air in the suffocating room. She smiles, but her smile is real, not like mine. Her flaming red hair attracts a lot of attention. I can see on the gods they have no idea whose child she is, and they won’t realize that she is our – or should I say, Apollo’s? – Oracle until it’s time. This will be interesting, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>“Nico di Angelo” shrugs my favorite of them all. He grew since we last saw each other; he became more mature. Taller and more muscular, less angry, and more serious, but at the same time, still a bit awkward teenager. He is still gloomy and dark, but even if he was adorable as a hyperactive kid, I wouldn’t change him at all. He is perfect as he is – I just wish he wouldn’t keep off of the camp.</p>
<p>“Niccolò…” says Uncle Hades astonished. Nico looks at his father, and his frame becomes smaller. I think it may because he expects disappointment from the God of the Underworld, but his father looks so… delighted. I’ve never seen him like this. He genuinely loves his son, I’m glad. I hope they can have a better relationship this time, without Bianca’s death looming over them. But, then again, she will be in the books, and even now Uncle looks like he wants to ask about her.</p>
<p>To divert their attention, I also introduce myself. Only father knows who I am, but I don’t look at him to see whether he realize I’m his and Sally’s son. I think he does, because not only my last name is the same as his last (?) mortal lover’s, but I almost look like him without his beard and wrinkles.</p>
<p>After introductions, Lady Hestia has mercy on us and magics here a couch where we can sit down. I look at the books in Hera’s lap and find myself afraid. Knowing me and my thoughts, this whole thing won’t end in peace and happiness.</p>
<p>“Shall we begin?” Hera asks sarcastically like it’s not her fault that we are here. If I remember correctly, before we were dumped here, the Fates mentioned that she had a plan where she wipes out my memories, and – what? I may never know, but I understand, it’s her fault, so she really should lose this attitude. Even if she is a goddess – or because she is a goddess!</p>
<p>“Sure, why not? It’s not like we are here for that…” I speak before I could stop myself. All my friends groan or sigh, and I hear a resigned “Percy” from Rachel. </p>
<p>“Who do you think you are?! I’m the Queen of Olympus, you are nothing, boy. Respect me, you insolent brat!” shouts Hera jumping up from her throne. The other gods either roll their eyes or agree with the goddess, but I couldn’t care less.</p>
<p>“I must respectfully decline”, I bow my head. It may look like I want to be humble, but as I said – I’m not. So it’s only to hide my smirk at her slow comprehension. She looks so prideful at my behavior, but when she finally decode my words, she looks like she wants to explode. Or, rather, like she wants me to explode. Some other gods, like Hermes and Apollo, barely contain their delight, while Annie just smacks her hand into her face. I think she wishes she doesn’t know me.</p>
<p>Sorry, it's too late for that! Wise Girl, you are stuck with me forever and ever, and… well, until the gods finally kill me. Same difference.</p>
<p>“Please, calm down. You can’t hurt the boy; the Fates protect him.” Father tries to calm Hera down, but I can see the small smile in his eyes. He is very much entertained by me. Of course, he is. We may not speak with each other often, but we are almost the same. Our mannerism, our sass, our anger. </p>
<p>I feel like we are tiny-teeny, itsy-bitsy ants sitting next to the giant gods. Thankfully Lady Hestia at least friendly and changes her form into a smaller one to make us more comfortable. I smile at her, and she returns. I like her.</p>
<p>Apollo is the next who reduces his height. I didn’t truly see him as a giant, but at human height, he really is quite a sight. He walks in front of us with a smile as blinding as the Sun.</p>
<p>“Hello, guys, I’m the most awesome god, Apollo and I can feel this will be an exciting experience”, says and winks at us. I feel myself getting flustered and somehow even in this tense situation, my <em>dream</em> comes into my mind. He would look hot in a doctor’s scrub, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>Hmm… maybe I should not think things like this in a room full of gods who can read our minds. </p>
<p>One after another they change their forms and their thrones into a smaller one. Hera is huffing and is a bitch, but someone else is in the center of my attention: Hermes. He looks just like his son. I… I think I loved him. Or at least, I had a crush on him…</p>
<p>We should found a club – Thalia, Annie and me -, the Heartbroken by Luke Castellan club. To, you know, get over him.</p>
<p>Hermes clears his throat and gets everyone’s attention. One of the books is in his hand – I don’t think anyone noticed when did he steal it from the Queen Bitch. I smirk at him and he grins back, but other than that, he focuses on the book.</p>
<p>“<strong>Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief</strong>”, reads and pauses. “Somebody is a cheeky little godling”, jokes, but nobody appreciates it. We, demigods because it is the beginning of the bloody war, the gods, on the other hand…</p>
<p>“SOMEBODY STOLE MY BOLT?!” Zeus’ voice thunders in the room. Rachel winces, but none of us is afraid. I won't dignify it with an answer, but Thalia reacts.</p>
<p>“Yes, and if you let Lord Hermes read it, you would find out, who”, glares my cousin at her father. He seems annoyed but sits back to his pompous chair.</p>
<p>“I recommend that you are not the thief, otherwise even the Fates can’t protect you.” His threat prompts my eye-roll, but better if I don’t say anything. In the corner of my eye, I see that Uncle Hades and father share an amused look. This will be a fucking roller-coaster for emotions, won’t it be?</p>
<p>Fuck my life.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I’m the fanfic writer, I can do /anything/. If I want them to be more mature, then I will do that – in my country, the consenting age is 14 between an adult and a minor. So, now Percy is 16, Nico is 13 (I know, that he turns 13 in January, and Percy is kidnapped in December, but just pretend, that Hera was lazy and slow. Okay? Okay.), this means that in the end, Percy will be 21 and Nico 18. There will be things between them before the books ending, they won’t wait until the end of the readings. It’s only because this way its “logical”. Or not, but whatever.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Story of My Life (chapter one, part one)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The reading begins...<br/>Poor Percy, it must be pretty hard for him to listen his own thoughts about everything.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>After making ourselves comfortable in the extra-long couch, Hermes opens the book about my personal thoughts and starts to read.</p>
<p>“<strong>Chapter 1. I Accidentally Vaporize My Pre-Algebra Teacher</strong>”, he pauses and looks at me strangely. “Why not purposefully?”</p>
<p>“That would be a spoiler, wouldn’t it be?” I reply cheekily. The Luke-lookalike shrugs and continues.</p>
<p>“<strong>Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood. …and try to lead a normal life</strong>.” While he is reading my advice, some of the gods begin to scowl. It’s not my fault, I’m right and they don’t want to admit that we are doing everything we can for them, and they fail us most of the time. “<strong>Being a half-blood is dangerous. It's scary. Most of the time, it gets you killed in painful, nasty ways</strong>.”</p>
<p>“That’s actually a pretty good description”, muses Thalia. I beam at her with my fakest grin and bow theatrically. She swats at my head, but leaning against each other, we begin to laugh, accompanied by Artemis' suspicious gaze. She is always so distrustful…</p>
<p>“<strong>If you're a normal kid... Don't say I didn't warn you</strong>.”</p>
<p>“You didn’t warn me”, pouts Nico next to me. I look at him and can’t help but coo – he looks just like when he had to put away his Mythomagic cards for five minutes.</p>
<p>“Sorry, I was occupied with the manticore.” I ruffle his hair. He is so adorable with his dark scowl, and… is it a light blush on his cheeks?!</p>
<p>“Are you little bastards finished?” Asks the Queen Bitch sharply. I shoot her a dirty look, not my death-stare, she doesn’t deserve it – yet. But even with the softened variety of my glare is making her shiver. Good. It’s your fault we are here, have to read my thoughts, and have to grow five years. You should be afraid.</p>
<p>“Sure, please, continue”, I beam at Hermes. He subtly rolls his eyes at his stepmother and my smile turns genuine. </p>
<p>“No, wait!” interrupts Apollo frowning. “Is being a demigod that bad?” asks concerned.</p>
<p>“Honestly? Yes”, gives Thalia the brutal answer. “If you can get to the camp, it’s better, we like each other, and have tight friendships…” at this she smiles at us, but then looks back at the curious god. “But as you know, not everybody can step inside the boundary unharmed.” She obviously thinks about her 'fun' adventure with two other demigods and a satyr. I can see all of us thinks our arrivals and commemorate those who are not as lucky as we were.</p>
<p>Yeah, I didn’t think either that I ever think I was lucky, but… you know. Nobody was killed, not even my mom, nobody was turned into a tree. So, in the ocean of unluckiness, I was fortunate.</p>
<p>“Well, that, and dyslexia and ADHD”, adds Annie.</p>
<p>“You forgot our beloved mortal parents” Clarisse also voices her opinion. Or stepfathers…</p>
<p>“So, being a demigod is not exactly good for our mental and overall health”, I summarize because we could talk about the cons all day and we would not reach the end. There are monsters, and hateful teachers and changing schools and living in a cramped Hermes cabin… So yeah, not everything is glory and fame. </p>
<p>This seems to shut everybody up, even Ares who wanted something to add. Some of the gods, strangely enough, for example, my dad is sickly pale, but it’s not like they don’t know our world.</p>
<p>“<strong>My name is Percy Jackson</strong>.” A soft cough, strangely sounding like “Pierre Jonas” interrupts the God of Thieves, but when I glare suspiciously my friends, they just look back at me with innocent eyes. “<strong>I'm twelve years old… Am I a troubled kid</strong>?”</p>
<p>“Yes!” Their shouting is so heartwarming and encouraging, it’s like they do know me after all.</p>
<p>“You look like one”, notes Demeter, and Athena nods in agreement. Uncles Hades and Zeus glare at father, who is whistling without any care. I think, there is some <em>history</em> in that scene.</p>
<p>“<strong>Yeah. You could say that</strong>.” All my friends and the gods without a stick in their asses start to laugh at my agreement, but it’s not like I could deny it. </p>
<p>“Hey, I like your sassy personality, you are fun”, grins Apollo.</p>
<p>“Thanks, it’s a disorder!” I quip back, but I don’t think Annie approves my sass, as she reaching across Thalia to hit my head.</p>
<p>“Seaweed Brain”, sighs.</p>
<p>“You know you love me”, I sing with a kissing face. Next to me, I feel Nico stiffening, and I see in the corner of my eyes Athena’s thunderous expression. The goddess I understand, it’s her daughter, but why is Nico uncomfortable?</p>
<p>“Aww, you two are so cute, so in love with each other!” squeals Aphrodite. We look at each other with Annabeth, and we do our mute communication thing that everybody hates.</p>
<p>
  <em>We should tell them; I don’t want to die. You know we only did this to be safe from the other campers but now we are here for gods know how long, it would be the best if we don’t lie. Your mother hates me, but maybe if she knew we are not an item, I will be allowed to live?</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">Don’t kid with your death! And I see your point, but…</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p><em>I know, you are afraid. I understand what you are going through – you know I just realized myself, </em>that<em>…</em></p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">…yes, </span>
  </em>
  <span class="u">that<em>. But what if…</em></span>
</p>
<p>
  <em>…if it is safer to be each other’s “beard”? I don’t think so. They are the gods, for gods’ sake!</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">I know, but the others…</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>They are our friends, our family, they won’t judge us. But I’m not ready to come out to them either, I only did to myself, you and my mother. We just say that we were afraid that the other died in the war and I don’t know, our feelings for each other are so strong, that we just…</em>
</p>
<p>
  <em>
    <span class="u">… we thought that we are in love and everybody was so happy for us that we didn’t want to tell them that we love each other, but we are not in love. Yes, that could work. Sometimes you have good ideas, too.</span>
  </em>
</p>
<p>I send her a last mock-glare and we simultaneously turn forward to face with the three most involved gods. Father is scowling at Annabeth, Athena looks angrily at me and Aphrodite has literal pink hearts surrounding her. She is the scariest thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on.</p>
<p>No, really.</p>
<p>Do you know how scary love is?!</p>
<p>“Lady Aphrodite, respectfully, we are just friends,” Annie says. Yeah, not my words, I would have put it differently – that’s why Wise Girl is talking.</p>
<p>“What?!” The surprised exclamation comes from multiple ways. All my friends are looking at us with wide, disbelieving eyes.</p>
<p>“So, after our kiss, we talked and realized that we love each other, but only as friends”, I explain the situation. Aphrodite looks disappointed, our friends look like they don’t understand, what’s going on, our respective parents look relieved and most of the other gods look like they couldn’t care less. Well, if we must live with the proofs of their relationship problems, then they can learn about ours also.</p>
<p>“Can we continue finally?” sighs Hades, surprisingly. I can understand him, I don’t want to be here either. Maybe if I hit my head hard enough into the wall, I’ll die and I don’t have to live this trough?</p>
<p>Or they just summon my ghost and after killing me five more times, my punishment will be to stay here and listen to my polite, respectful, and nice thoughts about everyone. Great.</p>
<p>“<strong>I could start at any point in my short miserable life… I know—it sounds like torture. Most Yancy field trips were</strong>.”</p>
<p>“You are hopeless”, shakes Annie her head.</p>
<p>“A torture?!” shouts Athena angrily. “You know how many people would desperately kill for what you think as torture?!” She starts to rant, but I let her voice go past my ears. It’s not like I don’t know about those who live in extreme poverty and can’t afford to learn and especially not going to field trips, but as a twelve years old, hyperactive kid it was torture. And I don’t even count the monster attack.</p>
<p>“Lady Athena, Percy didn’t mean like he is ungrateful, but for demigods, it’s hard to concentrate and learn with their ADHD and dyslexia, because no one helps them”, comes Rachel to my rescue. I shoot her a grateful look, and while the Goddess of Wisdom is not happy, she is appeased for now.</p>
<p>“Dearie, why do you speak like you are not a demigod?” asks Persephone. The other gods look like they didn’t realize but now they are interested in the answer.</p>
<p>“She is not, but she is one of us”, I declare, and we don’t say anything more of the topic. I can see that Apollo looks pensively at my red-haired friend – if somebody can figure out that she is the Oracle, it’s him. He catches my glance and winks at me. I feel myself blush, so I’m really glad when Hermes continues the reading.</p>
<p>“<strong>But Mr. Brunner… …class didn't put me to sleep</strong>.” I can feel Athena’s glare, but I find myself drifting away. I didn’t sleep well since that <em>dream</em>… well, since the war. Or, you know, since I was twelve. So now, that I know, I don’t have to worry about monsters, the gods can’t kill me, and I smell Nico’s nice, spicy scent, I’m starting to fall asleep. “<strong>I hoped the trip would be okay. Boy, was I wrong</strong>.”</p>
<p>I jump a bit at Annie’s touch, but at least now I’m not asleep. I think out of the five, she is the only one who knows that the Minotaur wasn’t my first monster to slay, so it will be interesting to see their reactions. Clarisse will be so jealous – or, if she is sane enough, won’t be. Is she sane? Are we, demigods, sane?</p>
<p>Okay, no. I’m not going to philosophize.</p>
<p>“It’s not like you are a trouble-magnet, or anything”, ironies Thalia. Father is so still he could be a statue and looks at me with pleading eyes. I think he wants me to disagree with Thalia, but she is not wrong. Hephaestus pauses his fiddling with something or another, and also seems to be concerned. If I’d look closely maybe I could detect some alarm in one or two gods’ eyes, but that would be so strange, so I don’t think too much of it. </p>
<p>“<strong>See, bad things happen to… …I got expelled anyway</strong>.” Hermes pauses and looks at me with stars in his eyes. O-o.</p>
<p>“Kelp Head”, “Seaweed Brain”, mumble Annie and Thalia at the same time. I just shrug, but don’t comment.</p>
<p>“<strong>And before that… Well, you get the idea.</strong>” At the mention of the aquarium, father grins delighted. He looks like he wants to say something about me, but contains himself, because, you know… spoilers.</p>
<p>“When we take a break, I’d like to hear about your other escapades!” Exclaims Hermes, Apollo nodding his head seconds the motion. It’s not like they are interesting, more like embarrassing. Like when I started to talk with the horses on the farm we visited, and when they told me they want to be free, I let them out of their stables. The school had to send someone to capture them. After that, I was expelled and they didn’t believe me that I didn’t do it with malicious intent, but the horses told me to free them.</p>
<p>That was when I was eight years old, and I didn’t realize having a real conversation with horses is not normal. After that even I forgot that the talking was real and not just a hyperactive kid’s imagination, but now, knowing my heritage, I remember this and more situations like this.</p>
<p>Like the aquarium-one, where I pulled the lever because the cute mako shark told me to.</p>
<p>Hmm… I should stop listening to animals. They obviously want me to cause trouble.</p>
<p>“<strong>This trip, I was determined to be good</strong>.” Yeah, I always decide it, but I never succeed.</p>
<p>“You, good?” Asks Clarisse skeptically. As a mature almost adult, I do the only acceptable answer: I stick out my tongue. </p>
<p>“<strong>All the way into the city… …enchilada day in the cafeteria</strong>.”</p>
<p>“I’m afraid to know, but if you think this about your best friend, what did you think about me?!” asks Nico anxiously.</p>
<p>These are my thoughts, I never would have described anybody like I did if I knew that in the future – or in the past? – somebody will read them!</p>
<p>“Just wait and see.” I offer him an enigmatic smile, but I also start to be afraid, because if these are my real thoughts… then he will read about my crush on him. And on Apollo also… But first, they will read about Luke.</p>
<p>Shit.</p>
<p>“<strong>Anyway… …entertaining happened on this trip</strong>.” Hermes stops and asks not understanding. “How could somebody forbid the children to be entertained on a field trip? Without fun, it truly is a torture”, declares the god.</p>
<p>“Even my little sister knows how to have fun during hunting”, adds Apollo. Artemis scowls, probably because of the ‘little sister’ comment, but doesn’t deny it. Thalia wants to add something, but even if her circlet is visible, telling stories from her life with the hunters would be against the will of the Fates, so she just stays quiet.</p>
<p>“<strong>I'm going to kill her… …I was about to get myself into</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Do you often hurt girls?” Artemis’ voice is deceptively soft, but nothing can cover the fury in her eyes.</p>
<p>“No, he is honorable”, hurries Thalia to aid me. I don’t want to say anything, because if I say ‘yes’, then I’m going to die painfully, the Fates’ protection notwithstanding, but is I say ‘no’, then I’d lie. I mean, I hurt Clarisse, Rachel, Thalia… I don’t know how they became my friends.</p>
<p>I’m not suicidal, I’m depressed and naturally reckless, but even I have a limit at my idiocy. I lost so many people, but I have my family with me and I won’t lose them because I was more idiot than I normally am and quip at the wrong goddess. I live to please but also I live to spite every god who hates me. I’m not doing this to die, it's simply my wonderful personality. </p>
<p>I know, it’s controversial, but as my subconscious told me: even if I want to protect everyone, I want somebody who protects me, who decides the less important things for me. </p>
<p>Cool, I’m almost at ease with this fucking madness. Soon my ordinary world will crumble beneath me, but I’ll just laugh manically. </p>
<p>“He may be hot-headed, but that’s because of his fatal flaw, not because he wants to hurt a woman.” Even Clarisse is helping with my troubled situation. I don’t know how to thank them...</p>
<p>They are my family, and I would do anything to protect them. The love I feel for them warms my heart; I barely restrain my soft, smitten reaction.</p>
<p>“Ohh”, sighs the Goddess of Love contently. Everybody looks at her quizzically. “Somebody’s love is so beautiful.” She looks like she is high, just leaning against her lover with flushed cheeks. Red blush threatens to flood my head, I have a feeling that the love she felt was my emotion. I didn't think she could feel familiar feelings, or that it gets her intoxicated.</p>
<p>It's interesting, that’s for sure.</p>
<p>“Whatever”, shakes Artemis off Aphrodite’s strange comment, and looks at me with a bit softer than before. “I hope Thalia and Clarisse are right.” With a last glare, she motions Hermes to proceed.</p>
<p>Nico grasps my hand and gently pets my knuckles with his thumb. My cheeks are getting a bit pinker, but then I feel Thalia’s hand on me, and I relax. They are my family, we support each other.</p>
<p>We sit like this for a few moments, but then Thalia withdraws because she can’t be seen as somebody who is this close with a boy – especially not her cousin who is Poseidon's son. Nico is the same; our fathers would be so childish if they knew our close relationship.</p>
<p>I take a chance to look at our parents, but what I see is surprising. Persephone is leaning against her husband, who is gently smiling at his son. None of them are angry or disappointed. My father also looks contentedly at us. Hera is the only one who is uneasy, the others didn’t notice the mute interlude.</p>
<p>Okay, so… they are not angry. That’s… cool, I guess.</p>
<p>“<strong>Mr. Brunner… …three thousand years</strong>.” </p>
<p>„More”, interrupt the reading several voices. Annie, Athena, and Zeus are the most prominent ones, but there were others also.</p>
<p>“Yes, I know already.” I wonder how long will it take to read all of the books if there will be more delays. There’s always somebody who wants to correct my thoughts, comment on my choices, or just simply laugh at my life.</p>
<p>I laugh about it too – when I’m not busy hating it.</p>
<p>“<strong>He gathered us around… You're absolutely right</strong>.” Hermes stops and sighs. “He is a satyr, isn’t he?” asks. “They can’t lie convincingly.”</p>
<p>“Yes, he is. He can lie if he absolutely needs to, but he hates it.” I smile at the thought of one of my best friends. Our connection is severed, but even if he is the heir of Pan, he is still my family.</p>
<p>“Wait, so this Mrs. Dodds is the monster who you vaporize accidentally, isn’t she?” speaks suddenly up Hades white-faced. Nico is also frowning, and Persephone’s face also shows her suspicions. They know Alecto, so I guess this description of her is familiar to them. I nod the little Underworld family to answer Uncle’s spoken and their unspoken question. Hades’ eyes narrow and glance at my father who is the only one paying attention at this exchange. The oldest brother looks angry at his sibling, but then he sighs and bows his head in acceptance.</p>
<p>Whoa, what the Tartarus just happened?!</p>
<p>“<strong>Mr. Brunner kept talking… It came out louder than I meant it to</strong>.” Hermes snickers and some others are accompanying him.</p>
<p>“Yeah, the story of my life.” I shrug. For Thalia this was the last drop in the glass, so she cracks up and laughs hysterically. At least somebody appreciates me.</p>
<p>“<strong>The whole group... …I actually recognized it</strong>.”</p>
<p>This time Annie is the one who interrupts the reading. I notice a pattern here: out of us six, it’s always Thalia or Annie is the disruption. Now they really can’t say anything bad about me!</p>
<p>“You recognized something exhibited in the museum?” She gapes.</p>
<p>“Thanks for the confidence, I really feel the love…” I don’t like when she is like this. I know she is not assuming things to be mean, but… she is a bit hurtful.</p>
<p>“You know I love you”, says Annie, and we smile each other. I know.</p>
<p>Next to me, Nico is trying to slide away from my side but the couch’s frame hinders this attempt. I don’t understand what’s his problem. In one moment, he is completely fine with stuck tightly next to me and the next time he would rather leave. I know our relationship is really fucking complicated, but I thought we are okay and close to each other. Then what the fuck did I do against him?!</p>
<p>“Are you really not together?”</p>
<p>“Are you sure you’re not in love?” asks a suspicious Athena and a pouty Aphrodite at the same time.</p>
<p>“No, we are not, and if we could continue, in one of the books you will understand why.” My answer is not the best, not polite, and not fishy at all.</p>
<p>Oooh, fish… I want to swim; I need some vitamin <em>sea</em>. Or, you know… Sink the bottom of the ocean and just live like a coral. Or a sea urchin – they are <em>prickly</em> and most of the time everybody leaves them alone.</p>
<p>I just hope everything <em>whale</em> be okay. But then again, it’s my life – at which time was it okay?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't think it's reasonable that the gods like Percy after reading a few sentences of his thoughts. I love it in other reading the books type fics, but in my opinion, the gods are too stuck ups for it. Some of the gods relate to Percy or the interactions between the demigods, but I don't think Artemis would like him instantly.<br/>Even I had to read the first half of the book to like Percy! I mean, I found him amusing, yes, but I didn't like him immediately. So, I guess what I want to say that yes, it's a protect-the-most-adorable-demigod story, where everybody loves him (with familiar or romantic love), but most of the time love needs a longer period to blossom.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. In Which One Of the Goddesses Reminds Me Of Myself (chapter one, part two)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<strong>That's Kronos eating his kids, right? Kronos was the king god, and—</strong>” Ugh, I know, I know! There is no reason to smite me...</p>
<p>“King god?!” shouts Zeus. Who else?</p>
<p>Before I could quip back something, I guess Hermes senses my intention and hurries to read on.</p>
<p>“<strong>God? …and the gods won</strong>.” There is a muffled chuckle next to me, but in the awkward quiet, it sounds pretty loud. Hah, maybe I won't be the only one in the dog house!</p>
<p>““…barfing up his brothers and sisters”? “And the gods won”? Are you real?” asks Demeter dumbfounded.</p>
<p>Well, thank you for the perfect opening: yes, I’m <em>cereal</em>!</p>
<p>I almost say it aloud but even I know about my mortality, so maybe it’s not the best time to say puns. </p>
<p>“Lady Demeter, I was only a clueless boy, who didn’t know his own heritage.” Ouch, to tell this so politely, causes me physical pain, but at least Kronos’ children are mollified. <em>Sea,</em> I can be polite, if I absolutely have to!</p>
<p>“Even now I’m amazed that he believed that the rock is Zeus”, muses father. I can <em>sea</em> a joke coming, but for the first time ever I just want to continue and not hearing their quarrel. They can go on and on and on about every fucking little thing.</p>
<p>“I suppose it was because your mother handed out all of you so he didn’t anticipate that she would try something.” To be honest, I speculated about it when I first heard about this myth, because it is just so bizarre… It is the only logical thing – or maybe Rhea made him drunk enough not to notice he is eating a rock, but I can’t prove it.</p>
<p>“You are much smarter than one would think, aren’t you?” wonders Athena. </p>
<p>“Thanks, it’s because of the trauma”, I smile sunnily, so bright and fake like a reflector, and try not to touch my ribs. It healed overtime, but when I think about Gabe – I try not to do that –, my broken ribs start to ache. Not the worst injury I’ve ever had, but it has a special memory attached to it. And when I say special, I mean pretty fucking traumatic. Just sayin’…</p>
<p>I see the “What the actual fuck?” in their eyes but just continue smiling. My friends have a dark aura around them but I just keep beaming like I have no burden in my life. They will see soon enough.</p>
<p>“Oookay… I’ll just… keep reading”, mumbles Hermes and does as he said. “<strong>Some snickers… …does this matter in real life?</strong>”</p>
<p>“Did he really ask this?” asks Annie bemused. “You didn’t know anything about the gods, how could you answer this question?”</p>
<p>“If I want to be honest, not even I can answer it and my husband is one of <em>his</em> children” muses Persephone. “And my mother is one of <em>his</em> daughters”, adds at Demeter’s warning look. “And my father also.” She clears her throat. “Yes, it matters, because it happened and they had to overcome this <em>very traumatic</em> <em>event</em> to be able to rule, but you can’t learn from it if you are a mortal. And we can’t learn from it either – wait, no. We can learn from it: how not to suck as a parent or parental figure.” Her rant amuses me, it’s almost like something I would say. Even her sarcastic tone at the ‘very traumatic event’ is the same I would use. I guess, she also has a reason to be cross with her parents.</p>
<p>Or, you know, every fucking one of us has a reason, and if I think about it really hard, maybe the six of them have the least reason to hate their parents. Yeah, they were eaten by their father, but now they are here, they are whole, they have power, and do not have to see their abuser. Hephaestus, on the other hand, was crippled by his mother permanently, and has to see her every day he spends on Olympus, sooo…</p>
<p>Yeah, what they lived through, it was certainly a trauma, but it didn’t give them the right to do the same thing with their children.</p>
<p>Go, Persephone! </p>
<p>I see her eyes leave Demeter, Hades, and Zeus and search for Nico’s. When she catches his gaze, she smiles and her acceptance is palpable. Wow, a stepparent, who (right now) doesn’t hate their stepchild. Ladies and gentlemen, we are eyewitnesses of a historical event! </p>
<p>“We will talk about this later,” Demeter says scowling. I don’t envy the gods – they are millennia olds, yet still can’t flee from their parents. They can’t move somewhere else either – see the attached illustration. I mean, Persephone fled to the Underworld but can’t get rid of her overbearing mother. Sucks to be a god’s child, isn’t it? Even more so when they are gods themselves.</p>
<p>“<strong>Busted… …On that happy note, it's time for lunch</strong>”</p>
<p>“On that happy note?” asks Hera disbelievingly. Her voice is so high-pitched, most of us wince in pain. Ugh…</p>
<p>You know what? Zeus and Hera totally deserve each other. Both are oblivious drama queens who think they are the best thing since sliced… no, they are the best thing since forever.</p>
<p>Hermes rolls his eyes and continues. “<strong>The class drifted off… I knew that was coming</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Well, you certainly look hot enough, but I’m pretty sure that you are not my son”, comments Apollo. I can almost see the drop at some of us’ temple like we are in an anime, but Artemis is the only one who comments it with an “Ugh, I can’t believe he is my brother”.</p>
<p>At least Apollo thinks I’m hot, so that’s something, right?</p>
<p>“<strong>I told Grover to keep going. …only the best from you, Percy Jackson</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Well, your best is saving the world, so I guess you succeeded his expectation”, comments Nico. I… I can’t say anything, I just stare at him.</p>
<p> I never thought that way. I didn’t save the world… It was Luke. I failed so many demigods. How could he think that I… that I’m not a complete failure?</p>
<p>“He is right” adds Clarisse and the others nod. Father beams at me, Ares looks interested to hear more.</p>
<p>“I…Thanks. But your opinion may change”, I shrug. I can clearly identify their need to correct me, but before they could, Hades speaks.</p>
<p>“If you six are done, maybe we can read faster and see who is right?” The amusement in his voice is unmistakable. I think he is maybe thawing towards us – it will be temporary; when he reads about my actions, he’s going to smite me. I can feel it. </p>
<p>“<strong>I wanted to get angry… …much less spell them correctly</strong>.”</p>
<p>“The mark of a good educator is to know your student’s abilities and expect things accordingly”, says Athena suddenly. “Mr. Brunner seems like a good teacher, this means, your capabilities are better than you expect it.”</p>
<p>She. Is. Complimenting. Me.</p>
<p>Right?! I heard right what she said, didn’t I?</p>
<p>That was a compliment.</p>
<p>“I agree with mother.” Wise Girl looks hard in my eyes like she wants me to concur. I mean, if the two smartest persons in the world say something, even an idiot like me knows to just accept it. I don’t get why they are complimenting me, because most of the time they just insult and criticize me, but okay. If they say so…</p>
<p>“<strong>I mumbled something about trying harder… …this was a hurricane blowing in</strong>.”</p>
<p>“You two are always fighting…” sighs Hades as if he could talk. Zeus and father think him hypocrite also, and he finds himself in the middle of two piercing glares. </p>
<p>“<strong>Nobody else seemed to notice. …loser freaks who couldn't make it elsewhere</strong>.”</p>
<p>“You are not a freak.” The comment comes from Rachel. I shrug – what else could I respond. Nico’s hand is returning, and he tightly clutches my forearm. I glance at him, but he is decidedly avoiding looking at me. The only sign that he cares about my feelings is his grip, but I understand his meaning. ‘You are not alone, you are not a freak’.</p>
<p>Okay.</p>
<p>“<strong>Detention? I'm not a genius</strong>.” I would have thought that Annie, Thalia, or at least Clarisse would stop here and agree with me, but they just scowl and don’t say anything. I don’t understand why, I mean, they keep me calling Seaweed Brain and Kelp Head. It should be a too good situation to pass up. Strange… “<strong>Grover didn't say anything for a while. Can I have your apple</strong>?”</p>
<p>“Really?” This time Hermes himself interrupts the reading. “Satyrs, it’s always just the food for them…” He shakes his head, then continues. I hear an agreeing grunt from Dionysus, but when I look at him, he is engaged in staring at his glass of wine. It seems here he can drink his symbol of power. Good for him.</p>
<p>“<strong>I didn't have much of an appetite, so I let him take it</strong>.” Now Thalia’s hand the next in the line to grasp my hand. What’s up with my cousins? It’s not that strange from me, right? “<strong>I watched the stream of cabs… …sad look she'd give me</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Your mother sounds like a good person”, states Persephone. She takes a quick peek at her mother, who is nodding approvingly, but I have a strange impression that they are not thinking the same thing. I suppose Demeter considers herself a good mother like mom is, Persephone, however, may think that ‘oh, so this is what a good mother sounds like’.</p>
<p>The soap opera of Olympus…</p>
<p>“She is.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and she bakes awesome cookies”, adds Clarisse. Once I brought a tray of cookies to the camp and she was the first one to try one – she was also the only one who ate from that batch. </p>
<p>“Ohh, Sally’s cookies”, sighs Rachel dreamily.</p>
<p>“Wait, how can it be that I didn’t taste one before?” asks Thalia indignantly.</p>
<p>“Maybe it has something to do with your… daily activity?” She is not impressed with my sarcastic answer but concedes. How could she eat the cookies made in the Big Apple, if she is wandering around the world with the immortal man-hating girl band?</p>
<p>“If Percy knows the recipe, he can bake it! We have a kitchen” proposes Apollo with a hopeful smile.</p>
<p>“He knows” offers Annie instantly. I guess, there’s baking in my future…</p>
<p>“I’d also like to try one” mumbles Nico next to me. If he wouldn’t sit so close to me, I wouldn’t even hear him.</p>
<p>Ohh… Yeah, he didn’t try it either. He was too busy with hating me and surviving alone in Hades knows where to eat my mother’s baking. If I remember correctly, he only tasted her blue birthday cake and her homemade no-churn ice-cream, nothing else. I was so happy that day that he stayed to talk and to celebrate my birthday. I hoped he won’t run away anymore, but…</p>
<p>Let’s just say that most of my hopes are polluting the River Styx.</p>
<p>“Cool, when we’ll take a break, he can bake some <em>divine</em> cookies”, declares Hermes. I grin at him for the pun – finally somebody, other than father, who puns like me! “<strong>Mr. Brunner parked… …motorized cafe table</strong>.” Hephaestus perks up at the mention of something technological. He is not contributing much to the reading, but I didn’t expect him either. I’m not his son, I’m not doing anything special. I guess, he’ll only pay attention when we reach the Love Tunnel.</p>
<p>I look at him closely. I’ve seen him before, but now I have time to actually observe him. He is crippled, yes, but not exactly ugly. Charles Beckendorf is… was… is... like him. He was (is?) a bit more handsome, but the muscles and the tan must have come from the god. He must have noticed my wandering gaze, as he raises his left eyebrow. I feel my cheeks getting warmer, but I smile at him. He may not be as attractive as Apollo, but I don’t understand why his wife is humiliating him all the time. Maybe I could do something to help him?</p>
<p>I peek at the other corner of the room where Aphrodite is leaning against Ares. They are not even trying to hide their relationship. It’s just cruel.</p>
<p>“<strong>I was about to unwrap… …face with liquid Cheetos</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Ugh”, groans Aphrodite disgusted, with Rachel following her with her own exclamation. Yeah, Nancy was pretty ugly and was a bully, but now I don’t even remember her. I haven’t thought about her for a long time, it was four years ago. Hearing my description, I manage to visualize her, but so many things happened to me that I don’t have any lingering negative feelings against her.</p>
<p>“She needs a make-over”, mumbles the Goddess of Beauty.</p>
<p>“I’m curious” declares Persephone, who is now sitting in Uncle Hades’ lap and not next to him. “Is there any mortal, who in your opinion doesn’t need a make-over?” Well, that’s a good question! The others think so too; everybody is turning to see Aphrodite. She perks up at the query and straightens.</p>
<p>(Hah, can't do that, I'm too queer for sitting straight!</p>
<p>...the puns. I see my future with all the queer puns. Beware, world, Percy is getting ready for it!)</p>
<p>“Well, if we include the demigods, then there are many beautiful little things. Like all of my children” declares the goddess. What an… <em>uncharacteristic</em>… answer. “And our little hero, as well: he is so pretty” adds while looking at me. What?</p>
<p>“Pretty boy” laughs Clarisse at my expense.</p>
<p>“Pff, how did he save the world? Batted his eyelashes at the enemy?” huffs Ares amused.</p>
<p>I’m not impressed – and I convey my disdain, I send him my third worst stare. He suddenly stops laughing, but the others shudder too. It seems I didn’t lose my ability to intimidate with only glowering. <em>Fintastic</em>!</p>
<p>“Even if he is pretty, he is so much more than that!” Nico defends me with his also frightening glare. I smile a little, shy smile at him, but I can’t do anything more in fear that somebody notices my attraction. I mean, okay, they are gods, I read sooo much kinkier things about them, but first I need to accept myself to be okay with my crush on him, and not outing myself via Aphrodite.</p>
<p>“Aww, you do care” I tease him. Unfortunately, he suddenly pales and clams up.</p>
<p>Shit, what did I do wrong?!</p>
<p>“Anyway”, interrupts Aphrodite undoubtedly irritated that nobody listens to her anymore. “There are attractive mortals, but a little make-over never killed anybody.”</p>
<p>“That’s fair”, concludes the Goddess of Spring with a shrug.</p>
<p>“Shall I continue?” raises Hermes his eyebrow in question.</p>
<p>“Yes! I do not want to listen to her anymore” huffs Hera. As if we want to listen to you.</p>
<p>Yeah, I’ll stay salty at her until she does something worthwhile – or forever, whichever is sooner. (I bet the forever is sooner!)</p>
<p>“<strong>I tried to stay cool</strong>.”</p>
<p>“That’s a first”, whispers Thalia teasingly and nudges my side. Nico is sitting as far from me as he is capable without shadow traveling to China but snorts at our cousin’s word. I pout but I have to concede. Even is I’m <em>cool</em>, I can’t stay cool. </p>
<p>“<strong>The school counselor… …control of your temper</strong>." A muffled laugh comes from Rachel and a skeptical huff from Clarisse and Annabeth. I can feel the love… “<strong>But I was so mad… —like it grabbed her</strong>.” An enraged shout prevents Hermes to go on.</p>
<p>“POSEIDON!” The King of Gods shouts in anger. I look up at the ceiling and intentionally exclude any sounds from the temper tantrum throwing gods. I had to live through once the hissy fit regarding my parentage, I’m not in the mood to hear the same accusations and threats. So, to occupy myself while the gods are busy with killing each other, and my friends with trying not to attract any attention, I find myself a comfortable position and lay a tiny bit against Nico. I think he is busy with his own problems because he doesn’t give a sign that he felt my settling. That’s okay, we all have our complications with what we have to fight. </p>
<p>I find myself relaxed enough that I only wake up when I hear my father’s voice getting softer, almost teasing.</p>
<p>“Whatever floats your boat, little brother.” Ha… Maybe I didn’t just meditate, but slept through a thousand year? Because it is really strange that Poseidon can joke with Zeus and even Hades is smiling a bit. Now I’m curious that the Tartarus happened… Whatever, I’ll ask Annie before we go to sleep.</p>
<p>Wait! Are we going to sleep? If so, where will we sleep?!</p>
<p>I need answers – but only after the first chapter.</p>
<p>“<strong>I didn't know… A month erasing workbooks</strong>.”</p>
<p>“What?! No!” cries out Hermes. “When you are in a tight spot, you don’t guess the punishment. You just stay calm and collected and pretty and hope whoever gives you the penalty, they are not creative!” explains the God of Thieves. Several heads turn immediately at him, the most noticeable one is Hades.</p>
<p>“I see”, comments Nico’s father deceptively placidly. “Next time I assure you I’ll be more creative”, he promises. Hermes struck immediately. Oooh, there is a story I want to hear!</p>
<p>Persephone winks at me and signs ‘later’. She is soon becoming my favorite god. I think we could be close if in the future she won’t hurt Nico and won’t turn him into a flower anymore. She is fun and seems to be caring, but also logical and as down-to-earth as a goddess could be.</p>
<p>“I didn’t say anything! I’ll just…” hurries Hermes to distract the gods cross with him. “<strong>That wasn't the right thing to say.</strong>” He mumbles something so inaudible I can barely understand, but maybe he said “You are right”, but I can’t be sure. “<strong>Come with me. …whiskery chin trembled</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Aww, Grover”, coos Thalia. I agree with her, he is the best. He is afraid but he will do anything for what he considers right, and I think that’s what bravery truly means.</p>
<p>“<strong>I don't think so… …I'll-kill-you-later stare</strong>. Like the one you threw at Ares?” I smile enigmatically. Rachel nods, but the others, who saw me more in battles, shake their head.</p>
<p>“No, that was his… what?... fourth? third?”</p>
<p>“I think, third.”</p>
<p>“So, his third-worst stare. The I’ll-kill-you-later is the second. The first one… well, let’s just say, I only saw it once and that was enough”, explains Annie. The gods look at each other, then at father. He sports a beam similar to mine, so we are just sitting innocently and smiling serenely.</p>
<p>“Fathers’ son”, mumbles Lady Hestia.</p>
<p>“The similarity is uncanny”, agrees Demeter.</p>
<p>“Thank you.” Sometimes I hate that I’m a demigod, and I don’t like the fact that my father abandoned my mother and me, but after I become more peaceful with these facts, I became more-or-less proud of the fact that I’m so similar to father.</p>
<p>He is a god, so not exactly an example to follow, but… </p>
<p>You know – trauma, abandonment, desire to comply, and please. Just your friendly neighborhood psychological issues.</p>
<p>“<strong>Then I turned to face… …my brain misinterpreting things</strong>.”</p>
<p>“So, that’s what ADHD is like?” asks Artemis frowning.</p>
<p>“Usually yes. For us, Athena’s kids, it’s easier, but for the others, it is really hard to stay focused on something not fight-related.”</p>
<p>“I hate reading”, Clarisse says and I agree with her. Why should I read something if it wants to move away from me? The words for me are like little worms, so most of the time I just let them do as they want.</p>
<p>“Hmm… We will work out something”, states Athena. </p>
<p>“<strong>I wasn't so sure. But apparently, that wasn't the plan</strong>.” </p>
<p>“Of course, it wasn’t…” says Apollo upset. I blink at him wondering why he is so unhappy because of this. It’s just my first monster, nothing exciting.</p>
<p>(Whoever hears my thoughts - don’t tell this Alecto!)</p>
<p>“<strong>I followed her deeper… …giving us problems, honey," she said</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Oh…” A soft sound can be heard from Hades. Persephone also looks like she figured out who the monster is, and Nico looks at me with horror in his eyes as well.</p>
<p>“What?” Father demands. The water in the air is gathering around him and he gives out a frightening aura. He is uncannily similar to an overprotective father when his only daughter brings home her boyfriend. Why is he like this?</p>
<p>“Dad, nothing wrong happens.” My words seem to do the trick, as he settles back in his throne.</p>
<p>“I’m going to have more than one heart-attack throughout the reading, correct?” asks the mighty God of the Seas depressed.</p>
<p>“Most likely” answers Nico. What was that look between them?! No, they can’t communicate without words with each other! I want to understand them!</p>
<p>“<strong>I did the safe thing. I said, "Yes, ma'am."</strong>”</p>
<p>“What?” I’m not pouting. Who’s pouting? I’m definitely not. It’s not like all of my friends and even Persephone, my father, his brothers and sisters, Hermes and Apollo, and… well, everybody looks at me shocked. “What?” I ask again agitated.</p>
<p>“Since… when are you polite?” tilts Annie her head to the right.</p>
<p>“Since ever. I'm just too lazy to use it for those I’m not afraid of or I don’t respect.”</p>
<p>“That explains so much” Thalia exhales. “Kelp Head, how the Tartarus are you alive?!”</p>
<p>“Ask Annie” is my only response. I don’t understand either. It’s not like I’m trying too hard to stay alive. Yes, I’m not suicidal, but I also don’t have the patience for bullshit. Father chuckles tiredly at my words, but I can’t find any humor on his face.</p>
<p>"You are an idiot", Rachel butts in.</p>
<p>"Some call it being an idiot, I call it I’m being awesome. It’s only a matter of perspective." My smile is full of teeth, so bright, even Apollo pales in comparison.</p>
<p>“You have guts, boy” approves Ares. Ugh, approval?! From Ares?</p>
<p>No, thanks.</p>
<p>My automatic reply is staying in me only because my Wise Girls is faster than my mouth and hits my head before I could speak.</p>
<p>Right.</p>
<p>Not suicidal.</p>
<p>At all.</p>
<p>“<strong>She tugged on the cuffs… Confess, and you will suffer less pain</strong>.” </p>
<p>“That doesn’t make any sense”, interrupts Hades. “She is only going to somewhere if… Ohh… My...” he stops before he could say it, but I know what he is thinking about. I nod.</p>
<p>“What are you talking about?” demands Zeus.</p>
<p>“Do you know who this monster is?” Poseidon questions.</p>
<p>“It will come up later”, I promise and motion Hermes to go on.</p>
<p>“<strong>I didn't know what she was talking about</strong>.” Story of my life. “<strong>All I could think… …read the book</strong>.” A burst of loud, booming laughter is at fault at stopping the reading. My father is the most raucous, but excluding Hera, who I think is in a permanent state of a stuck up bitch, Athena, who is grimacing and Dionysus, who slowly turned into a statue, everybody laugh or at least chuckle. </p>
<p>I’m glad my thoughts are so amusing.</p>
<p>“We’ll make a good trickster out of you”, declares Hermes determinedly. “<strong>Well? …she was about to slice me to ribbons</strong>.”</p>
<p>“A fury?! You sent a fury after my son?” yells father. The water molecules are threateningly moving in the air to suffocate their victim, but I will them to pause. Father is startled at my control over his power but is listening to me.</p>
<p>“There is nothing to worry about. I’m alive, right?” I don’t understand his concern, neither Thalia’s anxious squeeze. “It’s only a book. It happened to me four years ago!”</p>
<p>“Listen to your brat and let Hermes continue”, orders Hera fed up with his brother.</p>
<p>“<strong>Then things got even stranger. …holding a pen in his hand.</strong>” I can see father wanting to interrupt once again, but I shake my head to show him to let it go. “<strong>What ho, Percy! Dodds lunged at me</strong>.” Nico grips my hand once again. This time, however, I don’t just let him. I turn my hand upwards and close my fingers around his. This way he can’t move away. “<strong>With a yelp, I dodged… …she flew straight at me</strong>.” The tension is palpable while reading. Even Hephaestus paused making miniature chariots while Ares practically vibrates in his throne in the desire to fight.</p>
<p>I don’t want to comment on my father.</p>
<p>“<strong>Absolute terror… I swung the sword</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Hm” constates Artemis. I’m not even trying to guess what the aforementioned sound is about.</p>
<p>“<strong>The metal blade… …red eyes were still watching me</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Yeah!” cries Clarisse excitedly, then she realizes where she is, and instantly calms down. But she is not alone with her enthusiasm; my father looks so proud of me, I can’t comprehend. I know that my father in our present (future? Hopefully-not-future? Whatever...) said that I'm his favorite, but it was after I proved myself as a capable hero. Before that he didn't even acknowledge me - he didn’t claim me until I was nearly a hellhound snack. Why would he be proud of me without any of that?</p>
<p>“You are a natural, kid.” No, I still don’t want approval from <em>him</em>.</p>
<p>“Maybe you are not Poseidon’s son. You could be mine and Ares’…” muses Aphrodite. I pale so ashenly at the thought, that Persephone has to hide her laughter at her husband’s neck.</p>
<p>“I’m… honored…” I manage to stammer out these words. See? I can be polite if I want to!</p>
<p>“He is MY son”, growls father. “Let’s just continue.”</p>
<p>“<strong>I was alone. I imagined the whole thing</strong>?” Even now I’m a bit miffed about this. I thought I’m going to be crazy. Or – crazier. “<strong>I went back outside. Mrs. Kerr whipped your butt</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Mrs. Who?” The question comes from Aphrodite. </p>
<p>“<strong>I said, "Who?" "Our teacher. Duh!</strong>” answers Hermes. Well, strictly speaking, I answer her. It’s so strange that they hear my thoughts. There is only one way how this would have been worse: if <em>I</em> would have to read it aloud. No fucking way, thank you very much. I will NOT read my thoughts. “<strong>I blinked. …utensil in the future, Mr. Jackson.</strong>”</p>
<p>“That’s Chiron isn’t it?” constates Zeus. I think the King and Queen of the Underworld should buy some warm clothes. It may be too cold for them down there - Hades must have frozen over if Zeus actually pays enough attention to the book to recognize Chiron.</p>
<p>“He is”, I smile. I have problems with the centaur, but he is a good teacher. The best, actually. He is the worst when he has to console somebody or introduce a demigod to a whole new world, but his teaching style is excellent.</p>
<p>“<strong>I handed… Are you feeling all right?</strong> And that was the end of the chapter.” Hermes closes the book and inhales. "Your life will be interesting to read, that's for sure."</p>
<p>Not the words I'd use...</p>
<p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I don't hate the gods, but I can't say the same about Percy... I'm not trying to bash Hera or any other gods or goddesses, but if any of you feel like I'm bashing somebody, please, feel free to ask me to tag it! Or if there is something triggering I forgot to tag!<br/>This is something I write for fun, I don't claim that all of my characters are like in canon, but I'm always happy for some constructive criticism or just a nice comment! ;)</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Deal With It (chapter two, part one)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Apollo is theatrical, Hades can't say no to his wife and Hera is still a b*tch.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>It's still July and I'm updating - yay!<br/>Hope, you'll enjoy it ;)</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Before we could start, I formulate my concern.</p>
<p>“I apologize for the interruption,” Not really, but it never hurts being polite to the gods. If they don’t do something wrong first, I’m not the one who is searching for trouble. “but I’m just wondering about our schedule. We can’t live on smoke alone, we are growing girls and boys, so I’m just curious when will we pause for dinner – or lunch or breakfast, I don’t know the time. Also, can we sleep somewhere sometime?” My questions raise some eyebrows, but most of the gods are sympathetic.</p>
<p>“While we don’t necessarily need nourishment other than nectar, we like to eat non-mortal food, so I think it would be a splendid idea to eat three times a day with our family”, declares Lady Hestia. No one is brave enough to protest, so it’s a determined fact: we’ll eat together. Great! I can almost feel some of our demise.</p>
<p>“We all have our houses here”, starts Demeter, but Hades clears his throat in warning. I guess it is safe to assume if he didn’t have a cabin in the camp, he doesn’t have a house here, in Olympus either. “Most of us have free rooms, so you could sleep wherever you want.” Demeter’s smile is genuine, and I truly believe she is so delusional she really doesn’t realize what she is saying.</p>
<p>Let’s see…</p>
<p>Demeter is not our parent, and I think she is a bit too much. She is nice, I guess, but I don’t want to be a Persephone replacement. Neither do the others.</p>
<p>Artemis would kill Nico and me if we moved closer to her. The girls, especially Thalia would like to be with her, but a quick look at the girls, I can state confidently that we’d want to stick together. Maybe after a few books, when the emotions are not quite temperamental, we could part, but right now it’s the best to stay together.</p>
<p>Hera… I don’t have to explain.</p>
<p>Annie would love to sleep at her mother’s place, but I don’t think she’d appreciate me. But who knows, after all, she complimented me… What a strange concept.</p>
<p>I can imagine that Aphrodite’s place is a sex-dungeon, so that's a hard no.</p>
<p>Ares – NO. Just no. I want to be as peaceful here as I can be.</p>
<p>Hephaestus is a maybe, but I don’t think he’d like a bunch of kids in his hideaway. I suppose he is too introverted for that.</p>
<p>Dionysus hates demigods, hates children, hates us. No comment needed.</p>
<p>Hermes… I find him nice and all, but it would be bizarre living with him when he looks so similar to Luke. But if there’s no other option, I can live with it.</p>
<p>With Apollo, I have only one problem: <em>dreams</em>. Fucking wet dreams. No.</p>
<p>Zeus – what a joke to even think about it!</p>
<p>And lastly out of the Olympians, my father. I’d love to sleep at his place, but I don’t think he has a house here. Uncle Hades doesn’t have one, and while he is not an Olympian, he lives at the Underworld – like my father, who lives in the ocean. And if there is one place, other than Hera’s house, I’d not want to be, it’s in Amphitrite’s home.</p>
<p>Ohh, but there’s Lady Hestia! Maybe she has room for six demigods?</p>
<p>“Not at my place!” shouts Hera indignantly. Not like we would want to.</p>
<p>“You could sleep at my place. I have enough room for you”, offers Hermes. Well…</p>
<p>“No. They will live at my place. You know, I don’t use it usually, nobody goes there, so they can live there without disturbance. I can either stay with them or go home, but at my house at least they have options.” Ohh, so father <em>has</em> a house here. Cool. I hope, it will be ocean themed!</p>
<p>“You can’t do that!” A furious Zeus exclaims. “You can’t break the ancient law!”</p>
<p>Most of us look at him in confusion. I mean… I’m here. Poseidon is here. At the same place. At the same time. For a longer period. Isn’t that against the law? Sometimes I look at Zeus and ponder: that is really the sperm that won?! </p>
<p>“I don’t think that can be applied in this situation”, says Lady Hestia calmly. “The kids' godly parents are here, even if we are not completely sure who is whose, but we have been here for two hours and nothing bad happened”, explains the young-looking goddess serenely. Zeus has to concede but is definitely not happy with it.</p>
<p>“I think the best idea would be a sleepover!” grins Persephone. “You have enough room for any of us who would want to stay with the kids, without causing problems.”</p>
<p>I…</p>
<p>I don’t think that’s a good idea.</p>
<p>Like.</p>
<p>At all.</p>
<p>“I think that’s a wonderful thought, my dear!” agrees Demeter. Oh, gods… I mutely pray for patience – yeah, I know, I’m an idiot to do that here.</p>
<p>“Here”, snarks Hermes and smirking he throws some silvery sand at me. It hits me at my face but I don’t feel anything. He hits his forehead as he forgot something. “Oh, sorry, I think I ran out of patience.” Hermes laughs at his own joke. I tend to laugh at myself, but at least my jokes are splendid. This was not.</p>
<p>“You are forbidden to say anything”, deadpans Artemis.</p>
<p>“That was worse than Prissy’s puns”, sighs Clarisse disappointed.</p>
<p>“Yes, but can we go back to Phone’s idea?” Aphrodite looks overly interested in it. I’m not. This spells disaster.</p>
<p>“Well, I have room for any of you”, shrugs my father. Traitor!</p>
<p>Oh, my gods, a slumber party for gods. With five demigods and one oracle. I just hope it will happen before we get to the Medusa side-quest. I don’t want to be suffocated in my sleep with my pillow. </p>
<p>“My jewel, I don’t think…” starts Hades, but Demeter interjects. </p>
<p>“Do you want to disappoint my daughter?!” she thunders. Her brother-turned-son-in-law wants to protest, but seeing her wife’s Bambi eyes, he sighs defeated.</p>
<p>“Okay, we can have a sleepover at my brother’s place with a bunch of underaged demigods. It will be fun. Not.” mumbles sarcastically to himself, but I can definitely understand his feelings. I'm just az excited as him, but at least I'm not an unknow-years old god, who has to be nice to his awful relatives because of his wife's wishes.</p>
<p>“Neither do I find anything unacceptable or objectionable in this idea”, says Athena with too many words that she’s okay with it. Annie’s delighted beam is so bright even her mother is smiling softly at her. I’ve seen the goddess contented with or proud of her daughter, but this look in her eyes.</p>
<p>That is love. </p>
<p>Maybe… just maybe… it could be a great idea?</p>
<p>If we want to change how things are going on, we should not just adjust the books’ happenings, but we have to change the root of the problem: the gods. Them and their opinions and attitudes.</p>
<p>Okay. Maybe Persephone has great ideas.</p>
<p>“This means that we read one more chapter, have dinner together – and ask Percy to make cookies for tomorrow –, read one or two more chapters, then whoever wants to, we are going to Poseidon’s”, summarize Lady Hestia the plan. That sounds right. I mean, it sounds like the plot of those silly tv-shows the kids in my previous schools liked to watch, but yes, that is what we agreed to. “Good. Now, who wants to read?” asks, after everybody – some enthusiastically, some less so – nodded.  </p>
<p>“I’ll do it”, volunteers Apollo. I have no clue whether each and one of us need to read them or just some of them will read aloud my thoughts, but I would pay for Hera to read when we met her at the labyrinth. She was soooo nice then.</p>
<p>Hermes throws the book at his brother’s open hands and everybody sits back in their seats. The God of Truth clears his throat, snaps his fingers and magically there is darkness in the room, only he is illuminated by invisible reflectors. What a drama queen…</p>
<p>“<strong>Chapter 2. Three Old Ladies Knit the Socks of Death</strong>. That doesn’t sound like something healthy for your life”, shoots Apollo a concerned glance at me. Nico also seems worried; his palm is a bit sweaty in mine.</p>
<p>“Nothing to be worried about”, I wave, but it doesn’t seem to help. “We've just met <em>them</em>, and we are whole and healthy.” I don’t want to say that ‘nothing bad happened’, because <em>that</em>? That would be a blatant LIE.</p>
<p>“<strong>I was used to the… …like I was psycho</strong>.” Not the best weeks of my life. But then again, none after slaying Mrs. Dodds is. I have good minutes, good hours, maybe even good days, but not good weeks.</p>
<p>“You know you are not a psycho, right?” asks Nico quietly. I turn to face him and I lose myself in his dark, but curiously warm.</p>
<p>“Hmm” I make a noncommittal sound. I mean, I’m not a freak because <em>that</em>, I know I didn’t hallucinate Mrs. Dodds and her ability to turn into a deadly monster, but there is plenty wrong with me. But I’m working on it. “You are not a freak either”, I tell him. I know he feels like it, I know some campers don’t like him because his godly parent, but. He. Is. Not. A. Freak.</p>
<p>I try to convey my will through my eyes, but he is as stubborn as I am, so it seems we are not convincing the other.</p>
<p>“You both are idiots, but you are not freaks”, declares Rachel. Well, if the Oracle of Delphi says something, then you have to accept it, so we both nod sheepishly and once again looking at Apollo.</p>
<p>“I definitely, positively do not need to listen to your little mortal problems”, glowers Hera. Of course, she has no need for it. She has no need for anybody except for her.</p>
<p>That would be a beautiful world – she stays alone and we stay without her. Perfect. We only need to find somebody who can be the god or goddess of marriage and we are done.</p>
<p>“<strong>It got so I almost… Almost</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Grover?” sighs Thalia fondly.</p>
<p>“Grover”, I confirm.</p>
<p>“<strong>But Grover… …in the Atlantic that year.</strong>”</p>
<p>“You two are NOT going to fight”, declares a disgruntled Hades. “The Underworld is full of dead, you are not allowed to make more with your petty fights!”</p>
<p>“Petty fights?! Somebody stole my Lightning Bolt!” An indignant Zeus yells at his brother. I roll my eyes at his drama – I feel like most of the time I do that. It’s obviously the gods’ fault.</p>
<p>“But you shouldn’t always suspect us and consequently kill millions of people.” I almost can’t contain my laughter at Hades’ tone of voice, but Annie pinches in my leg on time to prevent me from doing that. He is speaking as he would speak to a baby! Oh, my gods, before this I liked Nico, during the reading, I liked Persephone, now Hades also becomes one of my favorites.</p>
<p>There is something about this Underworld-bunch...</p>
<p>“Respectfully, Lord Hades is right. The lines in front of the Field of Punishment are really long and there are even more people who can’t afford to pay their ride there.” Annabeth butts in.</p>
<p>“And pray to tell, how do you know it?” Athena questions frowning her daughter.</p>
<p>“It was Percy’s fault!” My best friend, my almost-sister, my not-really-girlfriend throws me under the bus.</p>
<p>“What? Why?!” I ask feeling betrayed.</p>
<p>“Everything is Percy’s fault. That’s a rule at camp”, shrugs Clarisse. Annie and Rachel are nodding promptly. I can’t believe it. My friends… my family… I am betrayed!</p>
<p>“If this is real, then my life has no <em>porpoise</em> anymore!” I sigh dramatically while putting my hand on my chest as if I’m stabbed. “Nico, tell me, do you also think so?” I stagger in hurt.</p>
<p>“Well… yes,” he grins a bit. That little, tiny smile is the only redeeming thing. Without it I’d actually think so that I’m at fault of everything because I did so many bad things against Nico, but… but if he can joke about it… maybe he honestly forgave me.</p>
<p>“Can’t you just stop with the sea-puns? You are just like your father!” huffs Hera.</p>
<p>“I’ve never heard nicer compliments from anybody”, I quip back. She continues her demigod-hating, pompous act, but father beams at me.</p>
<p>“I’m so proud of you, son! That being said… I also want to know what did you do in Hades’ domain.” So, guess father is an overprotective father… I should have guessed.</p>
<p>“Oh, you know, nothing much. Just a quick visit, but you will hear about that”, I manage to hide my uneasiness, but after hearing Annie coughing, my father is even more worried. We shall not mention that it was not a one-time-only visit.</p>
<p>“Quick visit four-five times?” Nico can’t stay silent, he just has to butt in, right? Shit. Ugh, now I’m like the most interesting exhibit in a museum. Like David or Mona or Lisa or that supper-thingy. </p>
<p>“Yes, the weather is so nice there, I had to visit it on further occasions”, I wisecrack. I’m not going to explain myself when it was not my fault. (Okay, the first time was mostly my fault since I would have gone there for my mother either way… Whatever.) They can wait and see why. I’m not saying anything - also, I can't because spoiler alert.</p>
<p>I feel like my life motto should be #dealwithit. With a sunglass emoji.</p>
<p>“<strong>I started feeling cranky… …but it sounded good</strong>.” There’s laughter from all except Dionysus, who just snorts. I look at him and realize that he and my old teacher look similar: he <em>is</em> an old sot… I don’t understand why he prefers this look. He could be a drunk frat boy or an alcoholic rich businessman, but he is just… this. Hephaestus can’t change his deformation. He, on the other hand, could look so much better. Like the others: every one of them is very attractive. Even my father is objectively good-looking, the clothes and the beard not included. But, it’s his choice.</p>
<p>“<strong>The headmaster… Fine, I told myself. Just fine</strong>.” As fine as the other few school changes were. At least I hope this will be my last. I just need two years to graduate, I’d like to do that in the same place. But if we will be five years older, then I don’t know what will happen. Maybe – just maybe! – we could ask Athena and the other, more-or-less helpful gods to teach us? That way we won’t stay behind without lessons and when we go back to our timeline, we will be able to graduate and start uni.</p>
<p>But…</p>
<p>If we manage to change things…</p>
<p>Then wouldn’t that mean that we have no place to go back?</p>
<p>That our history, relationships, memories will be different?</p>
<p>Can we even go back? What if somebody dies before going back at our time? If we don’t have a place to go back?</p>
<p>Or – will we stay here? One Percy is enough, but two Percies?</p>
<p>I need to ask Annie these questions. Our survival is at stake!</p>
<p>“<strong>I was homesick. …stupid poker parties</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Men”, comments Artemis distastefully. “But your mother sounds like a wonderful woman”, the goddess smiles at me. Or I guess at me because she doesn’t look at me. I suppose it has something to do with me being a boy… </p>
<p>“<strong>And yet... …next year without me</strong>. Aww! What a good friend you are”, says Apollo. I blush at his piercing yet soft gaze. I’m not that good friend. He was my first friend and sometimes I didn’t know how to behave with him. My other friendships also extremely complicated and sometimes I just don’t have the energy to befriend others.</p>
<p>I have my friends and I’d fight for them forever, but to actually connect with people, I have to spend a lot of time with them. I care about everybody but having an actual friendship with somebody takes time and energy. When I was a kid, I didn’t have any friends at all, I was the idiot, hyperactive guy who can’t stay still and who is usually thrown out of school before the end of the year. I’m still not used to love others other than mom and people, other than her, loving me back.</p>
<p>I’ve known Grover for a year before that clusterfuck we’re reading, I befriended with Annie during our first quest and the others the next few when we had to depend on each other, we had to trust our life on the others and we had to learn how to work with each other to succeed. Making friends is hard work but in the end it worth it – but for it I need time. I like the other campers, I fought for them also, but I don’t know how to behave around them. Especially not after the war, when most of them are hailing me as a hero, while the others are trying to live without their dead loved ones. </p>
<p>I have so many dead on my consciousness… </p>
<p>I’m not that good as others like to think I am. No – I’m not as good as I thought I am. I care for others, but I can’t be there for all of them. I care for the campers, I care for those I met during my quests, but there are so many by now, I can’t watch over all of them. I have a little brother, but I can’t spend enough time with him, because I’m so busy, and it hurts. It hurts that so many people like me and I just can’t deal with their love and expectation.</p>
<p>I failed most of them. I failed Rachel when I brought her into this mess, I failed Annie and Thalia when I couldn’t save Luke, I failed the camp because so many died, I failed Nico when… well, I failed him over and over again. </p>
<p>I’m a failure – but a highly functioning one.</p>
<p>“<strong>I'd miss Latin class, too… …I could do well</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Well, you didn’t miss it, after all”, comments Rachel. “And luckily, you had another teacher who believes you.” She smiles at me and yeah, she is right. Mom chose well – I just hope, everything will be all right with them. If we go back in our time, without any changes made, I hope, it won’t be even more strange that one moment I’m sixteen and the other I’m five years older and ready to go to college.</p>
<p>But maybe that would be better – I wouldn’t impose on them. I guess I could live on campus during the semesters and be a trainer in camp during summer and the other holidays. Or something like this.</p>
<p>Well, first, I should know what to expect, before I plan everything, and like every one of my plans, it will crash and burn. Meh, it doesn’t matter… I’m better at improvising.</p>
<p>“<strong>As exam week got closer… …started to believe him</strong>. Good, that helps. I just don’t understand, why did he and Grover pretend that nothing happened. They should have brought you to camp immediately after you killed a Kindly One, if not when they found you.” Apollo scowls at the book.</p>
<p>“To be honest, it bothers me also. I mean, you brought me to camp almost instantly, so why did you have to stay there?” asks Nico.</p>
<p>“I suppose it was because they wanted to hide him”, answers Athena. Zeus glares at his brother – well, he glares at both of his brothers. He is the only one other than the Underworld family, who knows who Nico is and that both of his brothers tried to hide us, their respective children from him.</p>
<p>“Maybe Poseidon should have hidden his coc…” starts Zeus grumpily but before he could say it, Lady Hestia interjects.</p>
<p>“You are not fighting about this again. You also broke your oath, you have no right to complain. The only one who didn’t sire another kid is Hades, and if he can stay quiet, then you can too”, declares the twelve-year-old looking goddess.</p>
<p>Go, Lady Hestia!</p>
<p>I begin to add something, but then I stop to compute something she said and what does that implies.</p>
<p>Oh.</p>
<p>I just realized.</p>
<p>What if Mrs. Dodds knew who I was? What if she didn’t attack me because she saw what happened to Nancy and found out my parentage, but she seized the opportunity to make sure the gods are paying attention to me. Uncle Hades never wanted to kill me as Zeus did. Maybe a little torture and imprisonment, but not death, so Mrs. Dodds’ attack wasn’t because they just realized I’m Poseidon’s son. They just wanted me to go to Hell. Literally.</p>
<p>“Yes, they didn’t want to believe that Percy might be Lord Poseidon’s son, but if he <em>was</em> an important demigod, they wanted to ease him to everything. Slowly” adds Annabeth skeptically.</p>
<p>“You know plans tend to go off the rails around me”, I shrug. My friends groan – all of them are closely acquainted with this fact.</p>
<p>“No shit”, murmurs Clarisse, who is still salty about the whole ‘sea of monster’s’ thing.</p>
<p>And I don’t give a <em>ship</em> about it.</p>
<p>“<strong>The evening before… …across my dorm room</strong>”, cue a hardened, cutting glare from both Athena <em>and</em> Wise Girl. Ugh, brainiacs… “<strong>Words had started swimming… …riding skateboards</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Okay, no, stop!” says Artemis. We all turn to her curiously. What’s the problem? Nothing happened here, why would she pause the reading? “Is it really that what worlds look like for you?” asks concerned. She is acting uncharacteristically. Why is she so worried?</p>
<p>“Yes, Lady Artemis”, bows Thalia her head when she addresses her leader. “That’s why the newer huntresses hate reading and writing. Greek is better, but for us, American demigods, both have their hardship” explains my cousin. Artemis looks like she is thinking about something very hard, but doesn’t comment, just nod her brother to go on.</p>
<p>“<strong>There was no way I was going to remember the difference between Chiron and Charon, or Polydictes and Polydeuces</strong>.” Annie has a coughing fit, which hides her hysterical laughter. Yes, Wise Girl, now I know the difference between the beings and even between the spellings.</p>
<p>“<strong>And conjugating… …help before</strong>.” And I didn’t dare to ask for help from an adult. After the first few beatings - which resulted not just mine, but my mother’s pain - I didn’t ask help from her either. It was better this way – she didn’t have to know that Gabe hit me if it ensured that she stayed safe. “<strong>Maybe if I talked to… …I hadn't tried</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Pussy.” The comment comes from – wait for it! – Ares. What a shock, right?! But my only response is rolling my eyes and do like I didn’t hear it. No fighting with gods without a close connection to water. And no fighting when everybody is here to butt in and make an even more mess and war out of it.</p>
<p>“Can I continue, or do you have anything else constructive to add?” asks Apollo sweetly. I see Hephaestus opening his mouth to add something cutting or sarcastic, but his wife batts her eyelashes beautifully to him and he instantly closes them. Hm… there has to be something to do for this pair to make their life happier!</p>
<p>I mean, if Aphrodite had more love for herself, maybe she’d forget to tangle other’s love life? Not like mine is a mess, I don’t have any, but I feel if she reads about Luke, about her promise slash threat, not to mention about Nico and Apollo, she will be compelled to fuck my life up even more.</p>
<p>No, thank you.</p>
<p>So, Operation: Do Something About Hephaestus’, Aphrodite’s and Ares’ Love Triangle is on!</p>
<p>Nico, Thalia, Clarisse, Annie, and especially Rachel shudder next to me and immediately turn their heads in my direction with wide, terrified eyes.</p>
<p>“No!” they shout almost synchronously. “I don’t know what’s in your mind but knock that plan out of your pretty head!” orders Annie. </p>
<p>Thanks for the confidence, guys! I send my most lethal look at them: a pout. My baby-seal-like pout.</p>
<p>“What was that?” asks my father bewildered.</p>
<p>“That was what we call ‘Percy just thought a hazardous plan’” says Rachel. “It is a pretty common occurrence that when Percy thinks something dangerous, he has this face…” she demonstrates a face that I’m pretty sure I’ve never made, so I scowl at her direction, but all of my traitorous friends are nodding diligently. “…and we are at the point when we can not only identify the Plan's existence after he resolved to do it but while he still just thinks about it”, finishes her explanation.</p>
<p>I’m betrayed, clearly.</p>
<p>They don’t believe in me. Not even Nico. Not even Annie.</p>
<p>“I object!” I’m not pouting – you are pouting! I’m… fiercely glaring at them.</p>
<p>“Aww”, coo several goddesses. Great! Even they don’t take me seriously.</p>
<p>“You are adorable. Uncle, your son is so cute, are you sure, he is your kid?” Apollo speaks.</p>
<p>“Of course, he is MY son! So, let’s just continue, because I want to hear about MY SON’s life”, grumbles father. Oh, gods, I’ve never heard him this possessive of me. I know, he liked me, but I thought that it’s only because I helped with some <em>stuff</em>, but he doesn’t know about those. So, why is he looking at me like this?</p>
<p>“Okay, okay! <strong>I walked downstairs… …best friend talking about you to an adult</strong>.”</p>
<p>“You are absolutely right!” nods Hermes in agreement, and the others with parental figures in their lives are also moving their head up and down. Thank you!</p>
<p>“<strong>I inched closer. The summer solstice deadline</strong>.”</p>
<p>“So, there is a deadline… I’m presuming it is about the lightning bolt, and the fight between Zeus and Poseidon”, comments Athena. Annie is smiling at her mother and nods a bit, but we can’t tell anything. They just have to live through the torture and the fear of the unknown, like we did. At least, for them, it is a shorter and less exhausting time. And they don’t have to feel the physical and emotional pain.</p>
<p>Maybe I should write a negative review at the Fates’ site…</p>
<p>I mean, who guarantees that the gods would listen to the moral of the story without really living it through? They should feel what a pain in the bitch the chimera is or how fucking frightening is to hear and meet and fight with <em>grandpa</em> is. Not to mention the other things…</p>
<p>“<strong>Will have to be… …convince him of that</strong>.” Another voice interrupts Apollo while reading, who doesn’t look like he is happy with it.</p>
<p>“That’s a shitty thing to do”, declares Ares. I look at him in shock – what is he talking about. Like, many things happened to me what was a <em>pretty shitty thing to do</em>, but is he talking about Chiron, or what?</p>
<p>“What do you know about ‘shitty things to do’? You do shitty things all the time! You help my wife to cheat on me!” complains Hephaestus – rightly so! Even now they are all over on each other, so why would Ares say things like this? He did (and without change of heart will do) soooo many fucked up things, like stealing the Bolt and the Helm, so why the comment?</p>
<p>“Yes, but you know that we are together. We don’t talk about you behind your back, not like this. I don’t like deceiving others, that’s not a fair fight!” Oh, the sweet irony…</p>
<p>I hide my bubbling laughter in Nico’s shoulder, I don’t want to spoiler.</p>
<p>Nico smells nice… Like dark chocolate and something spicy; it’s calming. I decided – I’m staying here! I don’t care whether he wants it or not, he is comfy and calming and I need to feel both of these in this fucked up situation.</p>
<p>“<strong>Sir, I ... I can't fail… …that would mean</strong>.” Thalia scowls and I know she is going to speak up.</p>
<p>“Is it because of me?” she is upset about it, and I can’t blame her. That <em>little incident</em> made everything fucked up. Thalia became a tree, Annabeth was messed up after that, Grover, till we saved Thalia with the Golden Fleece, blamed himself for everything, and Luke…</p>
<p>We don’t speak or think about Luke.</p>
<p>“No, it is because someone punished the wrong person and in the end you four ended up screwed over.” I almost don’t realize that it is me who is talking, but… I’m the only one insane enough to speak up about this shit, and I’m the only reckless idiot who can talk like this about the gods.</p>
<p>“HOW…!” shouts Hades and the room becomes darker. Scary monsters gathering in the shadows, ready to do whatever their master order. Nico is tensing, and the others are also ready to protect me from my recklessness. Luckily, someone more influential interrupts the boiling situation.</p>
<p>“Now, now, dear… You know that he is right”, says the Queen of the Underworld and strokes her husband’s cheeks. Then she turns towards us. ”He is sorry about that, he was just so angry because of what had happened with his children and their mother.” She sends a subtle sympathetic half-smile to Nico, and I gently tap his tights to remind him, I’m sorry and I’m here for him. “It was a big mistake on his part and he is willing to do something you ask for.” Other than the <em>big mistake</em> wording, Persephone is quite good at being a politician. Why isn’t she an Olympian? Everything would be so much better…</p>
<p>Uncle Hades looks like he wants to do nothing like this, but his wife’s claws make him rethink his plans. He clears his throat and looks at Thalia with an almost regretful look. “Yes, I… apologize for targeting you.” Then he looks at me. “And I also apologize for targeting you for some reason. I should have just made Zeus visit the Underworld for a bit. I think a little swim in the River Styx would be fantastic for his and my other brother’s problem with staying in their pants.” As I think back at the polluted river, I have to agree. Not only the crushed hopes and dreams of the mortals are the ones to make a mess out of that river – it is also because of the promise-braking gods.</p>
<p>“I support the idea! Sorry, dad, he is kinda right. He is the only one who didn’t break his swear and N… his demigod children had to suffer only because Zeus was pissed off.” I just shrug at their glares. It’s not like this is the first time I had a god’s glare directed at me.</p>
<p>“You arrogant little…!” Zeus is ready to smite me, and Hera is also pretty pissed. Even dad looks unhappy with my words, but I don’t care. I’m not here because I’m an obedient little soldier. Obedient soldiers don’t get the real job done. That is for those who can think for themselves and can act.</p>
<p>“Brother, stop. We are here because we need to learn about our past errors. The boy is right, your anger doesn't excuse your actions. You are the King of Gods, you should behave like that!” usually Lady Hestia is so soft-spoken that most forget that she is one of Kronos’ children and that she is really powerful. After all, being the Goddess of the Hearth s a hard job.</p>
<p>“But sister!” The King of Gods sounds like a petulant child. I’d laugh but I’m not that much of an idiot – and Annie has a tight grip on my hand to prevent me to do a <em>percy</em>.</p>
<p>“No buts. Please, Apollo, continue.” Nobody opposes her, so the aforementioned continue to read. </p>
<p>“<strong>You haven't failed… …hit the floor with a thud</strong>.” I see it in Hermes’ and Apollo’s eyes that they want to shout out for my mistake, but for everybody’s sake both stay silent. Artemis subtly nods to them to show they did well. I find it kind of interesting to observe the subtle connections between the gods. It’s like a reality show just with lethal endings… It’s kinda cool. “<strong>Mr. Brunner went silent. …out in Mr. Brunner's office</strong>.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Sorry, Persephone just… took over when I didn't pay attention. She is not my favorite character or anything, but… she came she saw and she conquered. So, I guess, this story turns into a Percy and Persephone kick the gods’ asses kinda story? Tbh, since I started writing this fic I have no idea what am I doing. I have situations I want to write but the path leading to them is like walking blindfolded and drunk through a highway.</p>
<p>Just a piece of plus information: Percy is thinking about Michelangelo’s David sculpture, da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and also da Vinci’s The Last Supper paintings.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Something Is Wrong With Apollo's Eyes (chapter two, part two)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Apollo continues to read the chapter; Hermes is a sneak; some of the gods are overprotective.</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<strong>I waited… …imagined the whole thing</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Yes, like the whole thing with the Kindly One. Gods, Kelp Head…” sighs Thalia quietly.</p>
<p>“It’s not like it’s my fault! The Mist was against me. It always is”, I mumble, thinking about Tyson. I love my little brother, I couldn’t find a better person to be my brother (especially not out of my existing ones. Yes, I look at you, Triton!), but the whole thing with him was the perfect example of how much the Mist hates me.</p>
<p>I’m sure of it. There is no way it is not a sentient being who hates my guts. The problem is, that while usually I can defeat my enemies, or at least I can run from them, the Mist is not palpable.</p>
<p>“I am curious about why it affects you this way. When you fought with the Kindly One, you saw her. You didn’t slay her as a mortal but as herself. But immediately after that, you thought it was a hallucination, and even now you think so. Why is that?” Athena contemplates. I’m actually also curious about this.</p>
<p>“Well…” starts my father a bit awkwardly. I narrow my eyes at him; he looks almost as I do when I fucked up something. “I can’t be sure it is because of that, but before Percy was born, I asked Hecate to help him hide from our world.” His confession is partly surprising, and partly really-fucking-not. Surprising, because I didn’t know this before and I never would have thought he would do something like this to protect me, but, also not surprising, because he is Poseidon. The guy, who told me I’m his favorite son, who visited me when I was born even if he shouldn’t have.</p>
<p>I’m not okay with the gods, they are immature, arrogant idiots, but… I love my father. Not my father, the God of the Sea, who killed many people without any thoughts just because he was petty, or the one in the ancient times, but the father who was a pretty okay person after our rocky start. If there is one person I’m sure I can help to see the light, that the way they are operating is not working, it is him.</p>
<p>At least I hope so.</p>
<p>“YOU…”, growls Zeus, but at Lady Hestia’s glance, he shuts up. Hera can’t even open her mouth, her sister immediately shuts her up also. Go, Lady Hestia!</p>
<p>“So, you not only broke your oath regarding not having a child, but you broke the ancient law also. I’m not surprised”, says the surprisingly level-headed Hades. Aw, but I’d pay for seeing him as Disney Hades, with blue hair!</p>
<p>Okay, no, not imagining that! Focus, Percy!</p>
<p>“Now to think about it, what is amazing that he is a young demigod hero and you didn’t just steal him and made him your immortal child”, uncle adds. Lady Persephone is hiding her smile in her husband’s neck, while Lady Hestia is openly laughing at her blushing brother.</p>
<p>“Err…”</p>
<p>“Spoiler”, I sing-a-song.</p>
<p>“So, he did try it”, concludes Demeter. My friends next to me chuckle, and I roll my eyes. He didn’t try to steal me, not exactly.</p>
<p>“Maybe he didn’t succeed in the kidnapping, because it was his son and not his lover. Maybe I should try it then”, says Apollo and winks at me.</p>
<p>That. That was flirting, right? He… That… It was clearly a reference to Hades’ and Persephone’s relationship, right? In a way that he’d do that to me? Like… He as Uncle Hades and I as Lady Persephone. It was just a joke.</p>
<p>I’m sure it was just a joke.</p>
<p>He wouldn’t be interested in me, so I’m sure of it.</p>
<p>“Only caveman do that, who don’t care about the poor mother’s heart!”</p>
<p>“If you lay a finger on him, I find a way to kill you!” Says two voices at the same time. Those two are - of course - Demeter and Poseidon. Who else?</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t do anything to him!” Apollo puts up both his hands as a peace offering, but then he opens his mouth and ruins his fake innocence. “I wouldn’t do anything to him he wouldn’t beg for.”</p>
<p>My whole face feels like it is on fire, I bet, I look like a tomato. How can he say things like that? While I’m busy with being totally flustered, there is a low growl next to me. What is Nico’s problem? Oh, wait. He is from the beginning of the twentieth century, maybe he is uncomfortable with guys flirting with other guys?</p>
<p>I mean, I can understand it… I want to flirt and be flirted by other guys (especially if it is Nico… or Apollo, maybe…), but even I’m uncomfortable.</p>
<p>But, I guess we should talk about this. I’m not okay with myself like this, but he is my friend, and if he has problems with <em>this</em>, I don’t want to have our relationship turning sour in the future. I could just… talk about <em>it</em> in general. Not about that I’m not straight, or Annie is not straight, but that it is normal in this society? And that the sexuality of the gods is simply complicated?</p>
<p>Or- I could just accept that I'm attracted to two guys, and just coming out from the closet. That sounds like an amazing idea! Too bad I'm not good with logical ideas.</p>
<p>Shit, there are so many things to talk about, I have already forgotten half of it.</p>
<p>Whatever, I’ll remember. Or not.</p>
<p>Likely not.</p>
<p>“Before one of you do anything, it would be the best if we just… continue”, I sigh. I see my father throwing dirty looks at Apollo, but at least not anything else. Like his trident…</p>
<p>“Yes, please”, Lady Hestia nods also. I smile at her – she is the best. Well, she and Persephone. I never would have thought I will like the goddess who turned Nico into a flower, but… she is pretty awesome. </p>
<p>“<strong>But one thing was clear… …the three-hour Latin exam.</strong>”</p>
<p>“Wait a fricking minute!” shouts Thalia. Clarisse and Nico also echo her shocked voice. “A three-hour-long exam?” She looks nauseous, Clarisse looks sick, Nico is green around his grills, even Annie looks like somebody who wouldn’t want to try it.</p>
<p>“That is nothing”, shrugs Athena. All of us demigods, even Annie sneer at her. I’d do anything for seeing her as a demigod and doing exams without any help at all. Really. I’d even kiss Hera!</p>
<p>Eww, no. Anything, EXCEPT kissing Hera.</p>
<p>“Athena, a few hours ago they explained what it is like for them. We even heard the young hero’s description of it. Are you really that senile?” Hermes’ voice is dripping with sarcasm. </p>
<p>“I beg your pardon?” asks Athena flabbergasted. Ohh, sweet opportunity! I know she is trying to make Hermes ask for forgiveness about his <em>cheeks</em>, but… opportunity, man! Once in a lifetime opportunity!</p>
<p>“Then beg.”</p>
<p>The dead quiet after my statement is deafening. I can’t regret it.</p>
<p>Even if I can see from the corner of my eyes that Wise Girl looks like she wants to strangle me with her bare hands. Even if Nico is slowly crawling away from me to escape from Athena’s anger.</p>
<p>“I don’t care what heroic thing you did in your life until now, I don’t care if we had a bad relationship in your past, but – you are my new hero!” Ares declares. Apollo and Hermes nod with stars in their eyes, while my father looks like he wants to deny I’m his son. Athena’s hair almost resembles Medusa’s, her eyes are stormy and the only thing preventing her to smite me is the Fates’ intervention.</p>
<p>“<em>You can’t kill the boy</em>.” The sound comes from nothing, but it is a clear warning. Well, to be honest, I’d die happily.</p>
<p>Ooops, my depression is showing.</p>
<p>“Do you want some ambrosia for that burn?” snickers Apollo. Artemis hits his head, the other gods either laugh at his words or shake their head, but at least he is now in the center of attention. I smile at him and wink to thank him, and to my surprise, pink blush blossoms on his cheek.</p>
<p>Did I do that? It was because of me, right?</p>
<p>“You let him get away with offending a god?!” I really didn’t miss Hera’s squeaking voice. Everybody wince at her shrill, especially father, who is the addressee of her demand. “As his <em>father</em>, you have to punish him! He thinks he can do anything, but he is nothing. He can’t talk like this to a god!” Some gods – led by Zeus – are nodding with agreement.</p>
<p>“Calm down, Hera. He was just… joking, right?” Poseidon looks at me, begging with his eyes.</p>
<p>“Of course, why would I want her to beg for forgiveness? It’s not like she’d ever done something against me”, I smile with my fakest smile. They don’t recognize the sarcasm or don’t want to recognize it, because Athena nods in gracious acceptance, but I can feel Annie’s pinch on my arm. </p>
<p>She knows me so well. I like some of the gods, I really do, but I hate the idea of them. They are callous about everything not connected to them. Maybe they like their children, but they don’t know them. They kill people just because of their petty little temper tantrums. So, if I can jab at them and can criticize them, I do it, and I do it while having fun.</p>
<p>Hah… people think only a woman can multitask. I can say for certain, it’s wrong: I can piss everybody off and amuse myself at the same time. Maybe I was wrong before and I’m suicidal, but at least I’d go with a bang.</p>
<p>“As entertaining this was, maybe we should continue”, propose Lord Hades, with Lady Persephone in his lap. Hades is also a cheater, and he made pretty bad choices before, but… I think maybe he and his wife (other than Lady Hestia and maybe my father) are the ones who will be able to change their habits the soonest. They can think and are curiously compassionate – and they are so in love with each other and in a mostly healthy relationship, it is almost unimaginable.</p>
<p>I’m glad. To be honest, when Mr. Brunner issued for homework to learn about the lives of Poseidon, Hades, and Zeus, to me, Hades’ myth was the most fascinating, and I hoped for a romance like that. (Hmm, and now I found myself attracted to his son… how funny.)</p>
<p>Apollo clears his throat and continues. “<strong>My eyes swimming… …it's for the best</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Good old Chiron…”, mumbles Dionysus into his goblet. Hah, so he IS listening!</p>
<p>
  <strong>“His tone was kind… …only a matter of time.”</strong>
</p>
<p>“Dam, Chiron is really bad at this”, comments Thalia, and grabs my hand, not caring about Artemis’ narrowed eyes.</p>
<p>“You are better off with being at the camp, but this was insensitive”, adds Rachel.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, Prissy, at least this way you don’t have to bother with that Nancy bitch”, says Clarisse. Her frightening smile shows what she thinks about my former bully, and I have to agree. Clarisse, even if she was my bully and we almost always fight about something, is a true friend.</p>
<p>“Eww…” says Aphrodite. I don’t understand her disgusted sound, but when she explains, I blanch. “I think that Nancy girl was in love with you.”</p>
<p>“Nooooo!” My wailing lightens the mood.</p>
<p>“I guess, she is not your type”, comments Nico. I pout at him. No, she is definitely not my type. I don’t know what my type is, but judging my crushes, it is of the male variety, who are at least as strong as me. Or, you know, stronger. Like a god. Or the most powerful demigod of our time, who can summon legions of ghosts and skeletons without a problem. </p>
<p>“I hope so”, says Apollo as if answering Nico’s question. The smug smile disappears from Nico’s face and he looks like he wants to kill something or somebody. I don’t understand why he is glowering at Apollo, but I don’t judge anybody for hating a god. (I didn’t judge Luke about it either. I hated him because of his choices and that because of him we had to fight against other demigods and kill them. And- you know, because of that tiny-teeny Kronos-named problem.) I’m sure he has his reasons. “O—kay”, says Apollo and looks strangely at Nico. I don’t understand what is their problem, but soon he continues to read and I have other things to think about. “<strong>My eyes stung… …you're not normal, Percy</strong>.”</p>
<p>“To be fair, you are really not normal”, says Clarisse teasingly.</p>
<p>“You are better than that”, says Rachel. “We are way cooler than those spoiled brats.” We smile at each other. If anybody, she can understand my feelings. The others didn’t go to school, or at least not in a boarding school with troubled rich kids, but Rachel did and for a while, she didn’t know how to escape from it.</p>
<p>“Who wants to be normal when we could live in a dangerous world with monsters and gods and have cool powers?” asks Thalia.</p>
<p>Well, I mean…</p>
<p>All of those who agreed with my warning words at the beginning of the book?</p>
<p>But she is right. I didn’t want to be a demigod, but being one can be pretty great when we are not fighting for our lives. Let’s say, it has its positive sides, like my friends and powers. Without being a demigod, I would have never met with any of them – maybe with Rachel, but other than her, no one. And I couldn’t talk to horses and fish and couldn’t breathe underwater and swim to the bottom of the ocean without any scuba equipment. That being said, I’d like to have a normal life, without any broken promises, interruptions, quests, death. Just a calm life with my loved ones, maybe a pet or two…</p>
<p>The others would die from laughing if they’d know my dream.</p>
<p>“<strong>That's nothing to be… …Percy—</strong>”</p>
<p>“Oh, Perce”, whispers Annie. It’s not like I care about this, it was a long time ago! (I lie, I totally care about it.)</p>
<p>“Hey, Wise Girl, forget it, it was a long time ago”, I say, trying to make her look away from me. Everybody looks so pitying at me, I hate it. It would be better if they’d take Hera’s, and Dionysus’ example, and look indifferent. I don’t need pity. I need… I don’t know what I need.</p>
<p>Whatever.</p>
<p>“<strong>But I was already gone… …family of nobodies</strong>. Hey! We are gods, not nobodies!” Apollo is so offended, but he is nothing compared to Zeus, Hera, and Athena. Before any of them could speak, I explain to them what they should have comprehended before.</p>
<p>“You realize that I didn’t know anything about my heritage, right? The whole book is about how much I don’t know about our world! I didn’t know my father is one of the strongest gods, I didn’t know his side of the family, I only knew that I came from a normal, poor family and that I was nothing like my classmates, whose family were rich and famous.” I think, my words have some effect on them. Even Zeus looks like he redundantly accepts that I didn’t want to insult them – what an exceptional sentence. The only person who is not convinced is Hera, but she just huffs without saying anything. I could get used to it…</p>
<p>“We will talk about this, S… Perce”, says Annie.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m afraid of that. I smile at her innocently.</p>
<p>“<strong>They asked me… …going back to the city</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Well, at least they tried to be friendly?” I snort at Lady Hestia’s niceness. She obviously doesn’t know how much humans resemble to gods about how careless they can be. It’s almost like they were created by gods and they were their examples of how they should behave – oh, wait!</p>
<p>“Almost”, I mumble. It’s not like I wanted to be friends with them, because Grover was there for me, but… I wanted friends. I wanted them to behave like I’m also a human being, not trash. Well, at least now I have Grover, Annie, Nico, Rachel, Thalia, Clarisse, and the others!</p>
<p>Speaking of Grover... I just can't shake off the feeling of emptiness. He was always with me, I saw him in my dreams, I could even communicate with him, but now? Now it is a big dark hole where he is supposed to be. I hope, he is okay. I hope he is all right and not crazy because of the concern. I mean, all his friends disappearing suddenly? I can't imagine being in his place. (Well, maybe yes: I'd raze the Olympos down...)</p>
<p>“<strong>What I didn't tell them… …as if I'd never existed</strong>. That’s harsh”, frowns Apollo. “Were they always like this?”</p>
<p>“Yes, it was pretty normal. I used to think all of the rich kids were like this, but fortunately, I met Rachel”, as I’m saying, I smile at her.</p>
<p>“Don’t worry, they are. There are only a few exceptions”, she shrugs. I nod, it is probable.</p>
<p>“Are you two together then?” asks suddenly Aphrodite. I almost forgot she exists…</p>
<p>“What?” I ask puzzled, but I’m not the only one who doesn’t understand the Love Goddess’ thought process. Nico is bewildered also. </p>
<p>“Your bond with her is almost as strong as your bond with Annamarie.”</p>
<p>“Annabeth!” I interrupt her, but she just shrugs. Of course, what else?</p>
<p>“The point is, that you have a strong love towards them. Well, now I think about it, you have pretty strong bonds with all of your little friends. It’s nice”, she smiles. It gives me creeps, that one moment she is nonchalant, then the next she is almost like a lovely person. It is weird.</p>
<p>“No, I’m not with her. I love all of my friends, but I’m not with anybody. Not with Annie, not with Rachel… and especially not with Thalia!” I say before Aphrodite could say something like that. I don’t want to die because Artemis thinks I’m deflowering her huntress!</p>
<p>“Hey! You say it like being with me would be a bad thing!” Thalia fake pouts.</p>
<p>“Do you want to kill me?” I despair for my life, and I risk a glance at the virgin goddess. “Lady Artemis, I’m not with her. She is my cousin, my friend and I love her, I’m not denying that, but I don’t want to have a romantic relationship with her.” She just looks at me with narrowed eyes, a gaze full of suspicion and doubt, but at least not with hatred. I can work with suspicion; hatred, on the other hand, would be harder. I can make people who are doubting me, see that I’m genuine with my convictions and morals, but I can only make the hate worse for those who hate me.</p>
<p>Annie was suspicious of me, disliked me because she didn’t know me, and because of our parents’ “peaceful” relationship, but she didn’t hate me. She is now my best friend, my sister from another mother. Luke, on the other hand, hated me because of my father, because of all gods, and because of jealousy, and I couldn’t say or do anything without him hating me more. </p>
<p>“We shall see”, decides Artemis with hard eyes. It’s not a total revulsion, so I can accept it. </p>
<p>With this interruption finished, we can continue reading my adventurous and fantastic life. Yey…</p>
<p>“<strong>The only person… …on the Greyhound</strong>.”</p>
<p>“He looked after you”, comments Rachel.</p>
<p>“Yes, I know now”, I smile at the thought of Grover looking after me, helping me. I would have liked it if he’d told me about the gods and our world, but whatever.</p>
<p>“<strong>Finally… …for Kindly Ones</strong>?”</p>
<p>“Percy!” shouts Annabeth and Nico at the same time.</p>
<p>“What?!”</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t have scared that poor satyr like that”, admonishes me Lady Hestia.</p>
<p>“So, you were always this impulsive”, comments Nico under his not existing mustache. Hey! I’m just… I just honestly hate it when I don’t understand something. </p>
<p>“I don’t know what you are talking about”, I whisper to Nico, then I continue it louder. “I didn’t want to, but he was behaving very suspicious, it was frightening.” Maybe it would have been better if they’d just live through everything in my shoes. Not just reading – experiencing! Like a virtual reality video game, or something similar to that. Maybe then they would understand. Feel as I felt, see as I saw, be frightened as I was frightened, think as I thought. Maybe that would teach them the difference between gods and demigods.</p>
<p>Or not, because most of them are not exactly emphatic beings. Besides, everybody sees a certain thing, unlike the others through their own perspective. But I stand by my opinion: Grover was frightening, and I didn’t understand what he and Mr. Brunner were talking about.</p>
<p>“Or you were just weak”, drawls Dionysus into his cup. I don’t even look at him, it’s not worth it.</p>
<p>I get that being with demigods is a punishment for him, and I suppose bonding with somebody who dies very quickly is not fun for the gods, but he could do something other than being a jerk to us, to me. He could – maybe it’s a novel thought – help us survive?</p>
<p>Oh, wait, gods can’t intervene in the affairs of mortals. What a big, smelling pile of shit.</p>
<p>“<strong>Grover nearly jumped… …night before the exam</strong>.”</p>
<p>“You can’t confess things like that!” jumps Hermes out of his throne. “You can’t tell anyone when you eavesdrop on somebody. That is a sure way to punishment!” explains, but when he sees the suspicious gazes, he smiles unsurely and withdraws. “I don’t do that! It was just an advice that I totally don’t follow. You know I would never spy on my dear stepmother when she practices voodoo on a vaguely Zeus-shaped doll, or on Ares and Aphrodite when they talk about what they would do with her husband if he was tied with a golden net in their bed. No, I don’t have blackmail materials or embarrassing stories about everybody I meet.” I don’t know where I should start with these revelations and I see, neither do the others.</p>
<p>Hera studies voodoo – okay, I can totally see her making a voodoo doll out of Zeus’ hair and sticking needles into his pelvic to make him infertile. This is not that strange when I think about it.</p>
<p>But Aphrodite and Aris wanting Hephaistos? That is amazing news!</p>
<p>While I see that both of them are embarrassed about it, and Hephaistos’ face is getting darker and darker pink, I think they may be hopeful. If it makes Hephaistos better about himself, makes Aphrodite less a bitch, and makes Ares a better person, then I will definitely help them get together! I wanted to help the God of Blacksmiths to be happy despite his cheating wife and abusive stepmother, but if he can find his happiness with his wife and her lover, then good for him! I mean – these are the Greek gods! If polyarmory –, or polyamore, or polyamory, or whatever the term is – is accepted somewhere, it is here.</p>
<p>“You are lying! I would do no such thing!” Hera shrieks. Nico snorts and I see Thalia bowing her head down to cover her laughter. Nobody believes the bitch, but if she starts to drama, we would be the ones to suffer, so I turn my begging eyes to father and Lady Hestia. Maybe they can make her calm down?</p>
<p>Father shakes his head and rolls his eyes – he is no help. Lady Hestia is hesitant to say something, and when Zeus also starts to drama (something about his lover candidates having medical problems before he could have sex with them), she shuts her mouth and continues tending the hearth. The help is coming from an unlikely, but not so surprising source.</p>
<p>“While these are very interesting matters, I have other businesses to do. The dead waits for no god, so if we could hurry up with the reading, it would be great”, smiles Uncle Hades with full of teeth. I don’t think he is impressed by the Olympian drama unfolding in front of our eyes. Nico sighs relieved and we share a <em>look</em>. Being around the Olympians is like living in a Brazilian soap opera, but with more risk of getting turned into animals or killed by various forms of magic.</p>
<p>“Thank you, Uncle”, sighs Hermes, who looks like he survived a horde of angered elephants. (As peaceful they are normally, when angered, they are threatening and scary.)</p>
<p>“I didn’t do it for you. I’m sure you deserve every punishment, but I don’t want to stay here longer than necessary”, his voice is full of content. I suppose he finally found out that being here, on the Olympus, is not full of sugar, spice, and everything nice.</p>
<p>I can understand him wanting to be an Olympian god. When they denied a throne here, it was a pretty jerk move from everybody, because he is one of the oldest and strongest gods, he is the King of the Underworld, the God of Wealth, etc, and it is a serious offense that seven out of the Twelve Olympians is a child of Zeus, while he is banished to the Underworld. On the other hand, I can’t imagine surviving as a relatively sane person being near to them for an immortality.</p>
<p>Apollo is whispering something to the sickly white Hermes, who retaliates with a jab at the sunny gods’ side. They are really like brothers.</p>
<p>Brothers… I miss Tyler. At this point, the one in the present is homeless, without any parental assistance, while the future one is in the underwater palace with our father. It was a long time ago when he stayed with me. I miss my brother. He is not just one of the countless children of Poseidon, he feels like a real sibling. I hope he feels the same, but I guess him meeting with our other, not as <em>trigger-happy</em> half-siblings may change it. Well, at least he is happy there. I wonder if I can make father help the current him earlier…</p>
<p>“<strong>Grover's eye… …summer solstice dead-line</strong>?”</p>
<p>“I should have known you know nothing about it…” comments Annabeth just to us.</p>
<p>“You should have known he doesn’t know anything about anything. That is a trend with him”, smirks Clarisse. I stick my tongue out at her and she laughs. We all laugh, and suddenly the previous gloomy feelings are gone. When I am with them, I’m happy. Even her jab at my empty-head is funny. I know when she is saying things like this, she wants me to fight back, to insult her. When Annie, Thaila, or Nico is saying something about my seaweed brain, it is hurtful because they are “just saying”. When Clarisse is insulting me, it is not unkind, because she really wants to be insensitive. It is confusing as Hades, but it works.</p>
<p>“<strong>He winced… …really bad liar</strong>. I mean, he is a bad liar, and I should know because I’m the God of Truth. But what I don’t understand is why is he lying even now?” asks a confused Apollo.</p>
<p>Well… To be honest, I have no fucking idea. I shrug because I have no answer and I turn to my Wise Girl. She looks like her mind is working like a race car but doesn’t answer.</p>
<p>“Chiron likes to make his heroes work for the possibility of learning from him. Maybe that’s why he was giving you a chance to prove yourself? It may have been because they wanted to keep you safe, but after you killed the monster, it is just illogical. You are clearly a strong demigod and after killing a Kindly One, everyone can sense it on you; it attracts everyone’s attention. Lying to you to protect from monsters or other gods just doesn’t make sense” Athena speaks up agitated that she doesn’t know the real reason. She is still crossed with my previous burn, but not as much as I would have thought. (Or she is just waiting for the best time to act against me. Who knows?)</p>
<p>“So, he told Grover not to tell me anything?” I wonder. I don’t know. It sounds like a sound idea, but I’m not Chiron, I can’t claim to understand him. Or anything. Maybe they lied because of this, maybe they wanted to make sure I’m a bit more “mature”, maybe it was because of neither. Maybe they just didn’t want to bother with explaining to me. If we can go back to our present, I should ask one of them. It doesn’t bother me anymore, but I’m curious why did they think lying is the best way to make me stay safe.</p>
<p>“Chiron does things because he believes it is the right thing. You shouldn’t search logic in it, because you won’t find any. I know, I have to work with him…” Dionysus says. It is always a surprise when he is contributing something insightful. I mean, it is not, but compared to his usual level of usefulness, it is something.</p>
<p>“<strong>His ears turned pink… …Half</strong>—”</p>
<p>“To be honest, I never understood why is it looks like that. It is distracting and no dyslexic person can read it without difficulties”, Clarisse huffs and crosses her hands in front of her chest. Same, I don’t understand, but I have a feeling that the answer is…</p>
<p>“Because it is fun!” …yupp, the answer is definitely Dionysus being an ass.</p>
<p>“You make bright-colored business cards what the intended recipients can’t read because it is… fun?” dad asks incredulously. He looks at me with begging eyes like he wants me to contradict, and say that it is actually dyslexia-proof. I don’t know what I should say, so I just shrug once again. It is Mr. D we are talking about.</p>
<p>“Annabeth, is it really that bad?” turns an angry Athena at her daughter.</p>
<p>“I don’t know, I haven’t seen it yet” she answers.</p>
<p>“I’m afraid, Lady Athena, that it is that bad. Even for me, who is not dyslexic, is painful to look at it. I tried to talk about it with Chiron, but there were other things to do, so I think they are still the same”, says Rachel. I look at her surprised, I didn’t know this. I see that neither did the others, but she just shrugs, as it is not a big deal.</p>
<p>“I have seen it before, and it is really that bad”, adds Thalia. With the girls adding their opinions, more and more gods start to look at Mr. D with contempt.</p>
<p>“What if a demigod can’t find the Camp because they can’t read the card?!” voices Demeter a worrisome question.</p>
<p>“Oh, don’t look at me like that! It’s not like any of you is interested in your bastards”, huffs Dionysus. </p>
<p>“I care about all of my children. I claim them as soon as I can, and I try to send them help when I can”, declares Apollo indignantly. Ohh, I didn’t realize that he is one of the good ones.</p>
<p>“All my children know the right way to safety. If they die, it is not because they are lost,” says Hermes, but looks a bit concerned.</p>
<p>“While I don’t fight my brats’ fights, they do as they manage, if they die because of a shitty business card, it is on you, not on them” adds Ares, and the other gods also add their own opinions. It is strange to see them being all <em>parent-y</em>… but it makes me hope that they are not all careless bastards who have no feelings towards their children. I’m not yet convinced that they should be allowed to reproduce, but some of them are not <em>that</em> bad.</p>
<p>“If I know it right, thankfully there were no casualties of the business cards, but I can’t be a hundred percent sure”, says Wise Girl. The gods and goddesses who have children look more relieved, but the narrow-eyed looks towards Mr. D are not decreasing. Especially dad, Apollo, Demeter, and Lady Persephone looks like they want to decapitate Mr. D. I can understand that feeling…</p>
<p>“Oh, don’t be so dramatic! Like Annemarie Change told you, no one died because of it”, huffs Dionysus. I hope so, if somebody had died and Chiron did nothing to prevent it, I would be so disappointed in him.</p>
<p>“Let’s hope it stays that way”, declares my father, and most of the others are nodding in agreement. Mr. D rolls his eyes but does not comment. Instead, he drinks another sip of wine.</p>
<p>“<strong>Don't say it aloud… …the others at Yancy</strong>”, continues Apollo. I don’t care about those boys anymore, I have my friends, but Rachel glances at me with sympathy in her eyes and I know that even if it was a long time ago, some spikes stay with us for a long time. “<strong>Okay… …would I need you</strong>?”</p>
<p>“That was harsh to poor satyr!” protest Hermes and looks at me with disappointment in his eyes.</p>
<p>“Poor Grover…” says Pinecone Face also.</p>
<p>“I know, I know, I didn’t mean to”, I try to convince them. I don’t know what he protected me from in the school, but I know that without him I wouldn’t be here. (Well, I’m not sure if I’m better this way, but that’s beside the point.)</p>
<p>“<strong>It came out harsher than I meant it to</strong>.” The piercing gazes soften, now that they heard from past!me that I wasn’t intentionally cruel. I know he lied to me about a lot of things, but he is the best friend I could have hoped for. And after he came Annie, Clarisse, Thalia, Nico, Rachel, and the others. “<strong>Grover blushed… …like he was the one who defended me</strong>.” Apollo smiles at me, but now it is Demeter, who speaks.</p>
<p>“That is nice of you. Not the disbelief, because satyrs are really big help for demigods, but that you protected him when he was bullied and that you worried so much about his wellbeing. This is a good friendship.” I smile at her. I don’t really know her, only that she is an overbearing mother who always preaches about eating cereals, but maybe now is the time to know her better. Her and the others, as well. They can’t be <em>that</em> bad all the time. Right?!</p>
<p>“<strong>Grover… …pair of socks I'd ever seen</strong>.”</p>
<p>“WHAT?!” shouts several voices, including all of my friends, my father, Apollo, and Lady Persephone. </p>
<p>“<strong>I mean these socks… …be looking right at me</strong>. Ohh… That’s not a good sign.” Most of those who are present look at me with pity, but I don’t understand why. It’s not like something bad happened to me – that time.</p>
<p>My father looks at me with fear in his eyes which I don’t understand. We were in a war, I lived through many dangerous quests, but he never looked at me like this. This is just something uncomfortable, nothing dangerous, then why? Why is he looking at me like that? Why are he and the others getting this emotional now, of all times? It was just an inconvenience. “You are really unlucky, aren’t you?” asks my father.</p>
<p>“Why are you so freaked out? I’m alive. I’m here. It was not the only time when I met them. And a few hours ago, you did too”, I turn to my friends. </p>
<p>“Yes, but as you can see, we are in a freaking impossible situation! To interact with them means unfortunate if we are lucky and death if we are not!” Rachel tries to explain the difference between the two times but I honestly don’t understand. If we want to compare the two situations, then the first time the unlucky thing was the overheated bus – not my death, or something. I think it was just a premonition, that somebody is going to die. Seeing the jar’s color, I’m guessing it was the show of Luke’s inevitable death. Or the Fates just wanted to be cryptic assholes. </p>
<p>“Well, I survived, and I’m fine.” I just want this conversation to stop, but the overprotective persons here are not letting it go. I don’t understand and I’m starting to be afraid of what the reactions will be when they will hear about the truly dangerous stuff.</p>
<p>“Son, maybe you should sit here. Just to be sure…” says my father. I just look at him like he is out of his mind, but he seems to be serious. What?  </p>
<p>“Dad, I’m really fine.” I can see he is not convinced, but fortunately, he is not making me do as he wants. I’m perfectly fine staying here, surrounded by my friends, sitting between Nico and Thalia.</p>
<p>“You can come here too, I could examine you just to make sure, you are all right,” Apollo winks at me. I’m starting to think he has something with his eyes – he is always winking at me. First, it was flattering, and I was blushing, but now I can’t help but feel it forced or fake. He can’t still flirt with me, right?</p>
<p>“Thanks, but no thanks. I’m fine here.”</p>
<p>Finally, Uncle Hades speaks up and shuts the mother hens up. “Clearly, the boy is alive and kicking, if he would be dead, he would never leave my realm. So, stop it with the fussing and continue!” Thank Hades!</p>
<p>“<strong>I looked over… …those socks would fit me</strong>?”</p>
<p>Thalia says, “that’s not funny, Kelp Head!”, and hits the back of my head. I pout because I think I was pretty funny… Moreover, I AM pretty funny!</p>
<p>“<strong>Not funny, Percy. Not funny at all</strong>.” At least now everybody is chuckling about how similar Thalia and Grover are when it comes to my jokes. </p>
<p>“Ohh… Well, he is right!” nods Pinecone Face firmly.</p>
<p>“You shouldn’t worry this much or your face will be wrinkled forever”, I shot at her. As a retort, she hits my head – again. What’s with her and hitting me? Maybe I should change seats with Nico, and sit on the end of the couch. Then again, it wouldn't be that much farther from the aggressive hedgehog.</p>
<p>“You know who will worry about you at your next life-threatening stunt!” huffs Thalia, but I just smile at her. I love that after being all territorial about Annie and the camp, we could become this close to each other. She is like a big sister to me – but shh, she might get a bigger head!</p>
<p>“All of you. Because you are mother hens who don’t understand that this is a book and I survived every single one of its content. This is the least of our problems, and if all of you are so worried now, what will happen when…” I start to list the problems, but it would be a spoiler, so I finish with a “well when we are on the quest?”</p>
<p>Father just looks at me with a resigned sigh. “You will make me grey despite that I can’t age, won’t you?”</p>
<p>“He will make us all grey before we finish all of the books…” adds Nico. I just smile serenely at them.</p>
<p>I don’t know what are they talking about. I’m always safe, I always make the healthiest choices, all of my quests are easy and uncomplicated.</p>
<p>Apollo side-glance at me, but continues reading.</p>
<p>“<strong>The old lady… …across four lanes of traffic</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Yes, I’m still alive!” I declare before any of them could say anything. I swear almost all of the gods look like they are worried about me. I know that is just an illusion, because why would they, but a worried Thalia, Annie, Nico, Rachel, and an <em>almost</em> indifferent looking Clarisse is more than enough. And I haven’t even talked about Dad and his misplaced overprotectiveness.</p>
<p>“<strong>Her two friends… …feeling feverish, as if I'd caught the flu</strong>. Were you all right?” asks Apollo concerned.</p>
<p>I shrug. “After a few minutes, yes.” He doesn’t look convinced, but nods.</p>
<p>“Okay. Good. <strong>Grover didn't look… …much worse than Mrs. Dodds</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Even if they would deny it, the Fates are worse than Alecto and the others”, concedes Hades. Lady Persephone pets his head and affirms – I think, there is a story there about something between the Fates and the Kindly Ones. I’m low-key curious about it, but I don’t think there will be an opportunity for a chit-chat with Lord Hades about interesting stories.</p>
<p>“<strong>He said… …something almost—older</strong>.”</p>
<p>“You are an insolent brat who doesn’t know his place, but… you are pretty observant, aren’t you?” Athena’s eyes are intense but are not burning with hatred. Wow, was this a compliment? I’m shocked. I glance at Annie whose thinking face is on with some amusement mixed in it. I don’t want to know what this is about, so I turn back at Apollo. </p>
<p>“<strong>He said… …knew it was a big deal</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Hmm… so you <em>can</em> think”, whispers Nico smugly. I pout at him with down-turned lips and sad baby-seal eyes. <em>Et tu, Brute</em>?</p>
<p>“I love you too”, I ironize, but when I realize what I said, I freeze. He also halts his movement, and we both look at each other like deer in headlight. It was an accident.</p>
<p>“<strong>This is not… …They never get past sixth</strong>.”</p>
<p>“Ohh, Grover… It was not your fault.”</p>
<p>“Of course, it was his fault! His job was to make sure you arrive at camp safe and sound. He failed!” butts Zeus in. “So, it was the satyr’s and Hades’ fault!”</p>
<p>“If you want to accuse somebody, then it is YOUR fault! You couldn’t stay in your pants!”</p>
<p>“I wanted him to save Annie and… Luke. He was successful, and even if I don’t like to think that Lord Hades sent the monsters at me, <em>you</em> are the reason for that!”</p>
<p>“Even your bastard knows that she shouldn’t have been born!” What the fuck? Did that bitch really…?</p>
<p>Okay, this was the last straw, I’m going to kill her! I even move to uncap Riptide, when two hands from both sides of me, prevent me from trying to kill a goddess. Logically I get that both Nico and the insulted Thalia are right, but I look at them like they betrayed me. It’s not right! Hera should not say things like this! </p>
<p>It is true, that our fathers should have never had sex with mortals, but it is not <em>our</em> fault that we were born. I don’t care if Hera castrates Zeus or makes him unable to have a boner, but she has no right to blame Thalia!</p>
<p>“That’s enough!” says Zeus. He will never get the "best father of the year" award, but he may not be <em>that</em> bad. He is bad, but at least he speaks up to his bitch of a wife. Sometimes miracles happen… “What happened, happened. There is nothing to do about it.” Well, it was not exactly a heartfelt confession about his love for his daughter. Ugh… I take it back – he is unsavable.</p>
<p>“So full of love and compassion…”, mumbles Aphrodite sarcastically. Well, if anybody could feel his emotions – or lack of thereof -, it is her. All of Zeus’ children who are currently here share an understanding glance. (There is a lot of them here currently…)</p>
<p>I look at Nico and we agree without words that even if our fathers are shitty persons most of the time, but they are definitely better than Zeus. I can’t imagine how much it would suck if I were Zeus’s son and Hera’s stepson. Amphitrite is also a bitch, but at least she might be a better wife and a better mother. Or not – I really don’t know. At least Persephone is the least bitchy?</p>
<p>Well… she <em>did</em> turn Nico into a flower. And she tends to be as careless about humans and demigods as the other gods usually are. But currently, she is one of the good ones and she seems like she likes Nico, so I’m withholding my judgment until she does something which permanently tilts the balance arm in either direction.</p>
<p>“Let’s just continue…”, sighs Apollo and does so. “<strong>Grover… …I promised he could</strong>.”</p>
<p>Nico looks at me with a serious face. “You will ditch him.”</p>
<p>“Of course, Prissy will ditch him”, Clarisse laughs. I shrug because what else could I say? They know me well.</p>
<p>“You really can’t follow the rules, can you?” asks Athena with a piercing gaze. Well, it wasn’t a rule, per se, but I can’t really object because she is right. I think it bothers her because she sees Poseidon in me. There are some aspects of my father I truly fucking hate and would never want to emulate, but most of the time I’m proud to be his son.</p>
<p>I grin and I declare, “I’m my father’s son – you can’t control the sea!” It is a fact that is better to keep in mind. It will cause less annoyance in the long run.</p>
<p>“But you can enjoy it…” Apollo winks and I blush at the innuendo. I feel a dark aura coming from Nico, who decidedly avoids looking at either Apollo or me. I’m not sure it is because he is uncomfortable with the flirting of a god, or a man, or has an unrelated cause. “<strong>Is this like… …somebody is going to die</strong>?”</p>
<p>Wise Girl looks at me with mischievous eyes and says, “Huh… so, you were listening during Chiron’s lectures.” I will retaliate. Not now, because I have a survival instinct, and do not want to go against her with her mother and the protector goddess of all maiden here. So, not now, but somewhere, sometime, she will pay for this. Or not, ‘cause she can be terrifying. That’s why this was not nice from her, because she knows it very well, that I not only listened to Chiron, I also learned from Annie. After all, she chained me onto a chair until I could answer all of her questions. (Or it was one of my nightmares? I can’t decide – it was so real.) </p>
<p>“<strong>He looked at me mournfully, like he was already picking the kind of flowers I'd like best on my coffin</strong>. Aaaand… we finished the second chapter! Who wants to continue reading it?” I can’t believe it! We finished the second chapter, and no one is dead yet. (And by no one, I mean <em>I.</em>)</p>
<p>The “I will continue” comes from an unlikely source – Ares. Well, that will be something. At least this chapter won’t be about our first meeting yet. Maybe I will survive another chapter. There can’t be anything bad for my health in it, right?</p>

<p></p><div>
  <p></p>
  <div class="gtx-trans-icon">
    <p> </p>
  </div>
</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>These chapters are becoming longer and longer. I’m not sure I’m comfortable with it xD I love reading long chapters, but writing them? It takes sooooo long...<br/>I hope you liked it!<br/>I'm always happy for feedback, either here, or come visit me on <a href="https://justonemorechaptercoldflash.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>! It's a weird place, but at least it is mostly about Nicercy...</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Dinner from Hell</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As I eloquently wrote yesterday on Tumblr...</p><p>Gen: It's going to be fun!<br/>Percy: I don't believe you<br/>Gen: But you should do it, who knows, you might have a great time!<br/>Percy: You want me to have dinner with Annabeth, Thalia, Rachel, Clarisse, Nico, AND the gods? And you think it will be fun???<br/>Percy: No. I resist.<br/>Gen:<br/>Gen: *smiles*<br/>Gen: *writes the scene either way*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>When you are dealing with fifteen gods, five demigods, and one Oracle, a nice-sounding family dinner tends to be quite… chaotic. Especially if the aforementioned beings equally have million years old grudges and recent disputes with each other.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I don’t know what can I expect from this unique experience, but knowing the gods, nothing good. When Lady Hestia motions us to follow her to the dining room, I look at my friends and see that I’m not the only one who has reservations about this. So, I do what I do the best: being Percy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, now that we are eating with you, do we have to tribute a portion of our food or can we eat it?” I ask. This is a serious question! We are here with them, there is nothing right now they could do against us or anything we could ask from them, so there is no purpose for this custom. I mean, yeah, we could burn our food just because they are the gods and it is respectful, but whenever was I respectful? Honestly…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What are you talking about insolent brat?! The purpose of your tribute is to remember us, to be grateful for us, and to strengthen the connection between us and our domains. Of course, you have to offer it to us!” speaks up my favorite goddess, the Queen of Bitches. But well, at least now I know why are we doing this really. To further help them and their powers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Once again - I really don’t understand her. If she knows that they have to rely on us, demigods to be all-powerful gods, then how could she despise us this much?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“While her answer may not be the nicest, she is right”, says my father, who conveniently appears next to me from his throne. “Now, that the other demigods are… paused…, we can’t rely on their contributions, such as prayers and tributes or on the mortals who appreciate what we do. So, while we can survive because we are not forgotten, our powers are not working as they should be.” I like that he is explaining this to me. Not just expects me to follow Hera’s orders. What a novel thing, right?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“As we are stuck in here because nothing moves in the universe, for the time being, I can’t and I’m not allowed to drive my sun chariot. As you know, it is the collective beliefs of the sun, and because I am the God of the Sun, I’m getting some of my power through the mortals who look at the sky, see the Sun and believe that it exists. This means that I can feel that part of me is not right because there is no one to believe in the existence of the Sun. The same thing happens with my healing part since there is nobody to practice medicine. I’m not saying that I’m powerless and almost human, since they are not dead just unmoving, but there is a… phantom pain.” Apollo adds. I try to pay attention to his clarification but he walks so close to me I can even smell him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He smells like the summer breeze, like the person in my </span>
  <em>
    <span>dream</span>
  </em>
  <span>. I can hardly concentrate on his silvery voice which </span>
  <em>
    <span>isn’t</span>
  </em>
  <span> saying that I’m a good boy, but I’m strong-willed and determined to not think about </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>, so I’m not thinking about </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“You are a good boy. My good boy”</span>
  </em>
  <span>. This is not good.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Not good at all.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But because we are here, we can help to maintain your power level.” Annie’s voice pulls me out from my memories, her fascination is evident. It’s not an everyday occurrence that a god talks about their existence. We study them, Chiron and the others teach us what they know, but Mr. D is not helpful, we can’t ask him questions about his powers and expect an honest and satisfying answer. So this is really a unique experience. It’s just sad that I need most of my brainpower to hold the not-straight part of my brain at bay.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankfully the dining room is not far and when we arrive there I manage to hide from my imaginations. It would be safer between Rachel and Clarisse but Nico is all alone and I don’t want him to feel excluded so I walk next to him. At least, even if I’m attracted to him - and I don't say I am -, I wouldn't do anything to him. He is still so young... He lived through so much, but he is still just a kid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“‘Sup?” Even I cringe when I realize what I just said, but at his condescending look, I just smile at him with a bright smile. He rolls his eyes but I can see the corner of his mouth curling upwards so I declare it a success.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing”, he mumbles. “I just don’t like to…” he trails off but I think I know what’s bothering him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I don’t like this either. I don’t know how reading my thoughts can change everything. I don’t... It’s not good for either of us.” He grimaces and nods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s not going to be pretty. The gods are temperamental and a lot of things happened where they are not painted in the best light. And we don’t even know what is in the other books where Hera supposedly kidnapped you. I don’t like this situation but I have to say that maybe it is better than the alternative”, says Nico pensively.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly another voice interrupts our conversation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Would you boys like to sit next to me?” asks Lady Persephone with a nice smile on her face. It’s not a polite one, it’s a real one. Her eyes are sparkling with mischief, which strangely reminds me of my mother. Okay, no, it’s not that strange - I inherited my sassiness from her!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I…” Nico seems like he is in a trap, and he looks everywhere but at his step-mother. I can understand, as one of his memories about her is her turning him into a dandelion, but right now she is not the same as in the past. Or future. Or whatever.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’d love to”, I accept and as a jest, I offer her my arm. She takes it and we walk towards the table and her glowering husband with arm in arm. If I’d be a lesser man I’d run for my life from Uncle Hades, but I’m a not-exactly-suicidal </span>
  <em>
    <span>Percy</span>
  </em>
  <span>, so I go on like I didn’t see his killer eyes, and lead Persephone to her chair. Nico is following us like a lost puppy, who doesn’t know what is he supposed to do, so I pull out the seat next to his step-mother and I motion him to sit down. They should bond.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He sits down hesitantly but he seems to be at ease when both Persephone and Uncle Hades softens. I sit next to him because I won’t leave him alone with them even if they are nice right now.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>There are too many memories burdening Nico to be able to relax. Memories of Hades telling him that Bianca was the better daughter, memories of Persephone turning him into a flower, and others... But they seem to be pretty chill right now, so, I guess we should try to bond with them. Right?!?!</span>
</p><p>
  <span> My father sits next to me, and the seat in front of me is occupied by a dripping wet Apollo who glares at Poseidon but smiles at me with a sunny smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I really don’t want to know what had happened between them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thalia sits next to Artemis, as far as possible from Zeus and Hera and Annie is sitting with her mother and seemingly are in a serious exchange of ideas. Rachel is sitting between Apollo and Clarisse, who - at her horror - is sitting next to Aphrodite. The Goddess of Beauty is trying to maintain a steady flow between them but my friend is not the girliest girl so it’s not exactly a mutual conversation. Still, if Clarisse’s best friend was Silena, a daughter of Aphrodite, she is more than capable of handling the goddess.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other gods sit where they can, but the funniest seating arrangement is Demeter next to Uncle Hades and the most surprising is Hephaestus between his wife and the lover of his wife.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I can’t claim that I’m with the best observation capabilities ever, or that I’m the smartest person in the room but I sense something between the three of them. Maybe - just maybe! - theirs is the longest slow-burn relationship ever, with unnecessary drama and cheating, and punishments. We’ll see.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Καλή όρεξη”, says Lady Hestia and suddenly the table is at the verge of collapsing under the weight of the food. There is everything enjoyable, like a cheeseburger for Nico, a nice-looking, fresh quinoa salad for Rachel, and -- is that </span>
  <em>
    <span>blue pasta</span>
  </em>
  <span>?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Blue!” I shout with glee. My friends don’t even look at me, they are immune to my obsession with blue food and blue things but some of the gods look at me curiously and some of them with contempt.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>We, demigods, burn some of our foods as an offering to the gods, and I murmur a little prayer to Uncle Hades to ensure he will not kill me because of my thoughts written in the books. He throws an amused look at me, but I can’t relax till I can be sure I’ll live through each and every book with every body part intact.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So…” Poseidon starts but then stops to clear his throat. I don’t think he knows how to talk to me and what to talk about. I don’t either but it’s nice that he is close to me. In the past - or I guess, now I should say, in the future -, we couldn’t spend enough time with each other to truly get to know each other. And while my resentment about him abandoning my mother and leaving us to Gabe’s </span>
  <em>
    <span>mercy </span>
  </em>
  <span>is not existing anymore, I don’t…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I don’t know. It’s confusing. Emotions are confusing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey, Percy, do you want some blue coke?” interjects Apollo and offers me the drink. I nod enthusiastically and immediately drink from it. I can feel my father’s murderous aura but I don’t want to get involved with whatever it is between them. Maybe before this thing with the time-traveling demigods, something happened between them. Perhaps Apollo pranked him or something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“How is Triton?” I ask politely from Poseidon. It’s not like I’m interested in my half-fish half-brother, but it’s a somewhat neutral topic. It’s not about my life, nor about the fucked up shit the gods did, do, and will do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Triton?” My father asks surprised. Some emotions run across his face but I can’t identify them because he looks at Apollo and an awfully smug smile takes over his face. “He is fine. He is so fine you could never find someone finer than him,” declares. I… Hm… What?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I look around confusedly but nobody helps me out from this conversation, every one of my friends is occupied with their own conversation partner. So, I just have to suck up and deal with mine -- who is still singing the praises about his other son. That Triton is so handsome and unfortunately single and nice and a good king and a good father and once again -- he is single. Well, I knew that one because when we met in </span>
  <em>
    <span>that</span>
  </em>
  <span> unfortunate situation, he didn’t have a wife yet, so I assumed he was single since his daughters were born. I don’t know about nice; he was awful to me, but I just nod. I don’t want to talk about my past, everything will be explained in the books.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The ‘good father’ thing is interesting. I hope he is not a good father like the Olympians are good parents. ('Cause they are not. Not even close. I know, I know, the ancient laws and they are busy, etc etc, but.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay, no, I can’t think about it, I’ll just make myself angry about it.)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"... and then she wanted to turn into a human but…," catches my ears and I excitedly whip my head towards my father.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A daughter of Triton fell in love with a human and wanted to turn into a human?" Poseidon looks strangely at my excitement. Annie, on the other hand, looks at my eyes and deadpans. She has enough of my obsession with Disney Ariel, she has seen it too many times with me to give her rash just for mentioning something related to it. I grin at her and she rolls her eyes fondly, then turns back her head towards her mother.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, it was a long time ago, and fortunately she grew it out, but yes, she had this phase,” Poseidon explains but I can see that he is confused. I mean, I can understand. He told me some interesting stories about life under the sea, but this anecdote made me more excited than the mention of Triton’s pet Kraken. (Yes, a pet Kraken! How cool is that?!)</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“My favorite movie is about a daughter of Triton, who fell in love with a human prince. So, it’s just pretty interesting that it was based on a true story.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, are you talking about The Little Mermaid?” asks Persephone. “I love the original story, the one written by Andersen. He was a son of Glaucus, actually,” she says. Glaucus… I know that name, I learned about him. But right now I can’t remember… I think, he was a god of water-something and something? Maybe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t talk about that dick!” Comes a burst of anger from not so far away. I snap my head towards it, and it’s Mr. D. To be honest, I forgot he is here, as he doesn’t talk about much, just drinks his wine.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If every one of us would throw a hissy fit about the ex-lovers of our significant others, we would be in a constant war. So, dear brother, just calm down.” Persephone is perfectly calm and to my biggest surprise, she really makes him shut up. I mean, mostly, because I can hear him grumbling about Hera, and her hissy fits, but I can’t blame him about it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry about him, he is just jealous that Glaucus is still friends with Adriane, and he can’t understand that he is in an on-and-off relationship with Nerites.” I think I lost track. Nerites is the son of The Old Man of the Sea, right? And so is Glaucus. And they are in a relationship? As in a romantic one? And Glaucus is an ex-lover of Ariadne, who was with Theseus and now is the wife of Mr. D?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I think maybe I’m misunderstanding it, but...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They are gods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So...?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, I guess some of them didn’t lose their perverted side. No comment, I suppose.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Right now they are together once again. They swore to each other that for a while they won’t have another mortal or immortal lover, so nobody can stand between them. It’s a sweet thought, but Nerites looks too good to not become a shellfish once again,” chimes in Apollo, like I should know what is he talking about.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry, I have both my hands full with other men and women, I won’t stand between them! They are a cute couple, I would hate to ruin that love. It gives me sooo much power,” says Aphrodite. So, I guess, she turned him into a shellfish… Probably. Most definitely.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You should be ashamed of yourself! Talking about other men and women in front of your husband!” Hm, I wonder who spoke. I have no idea.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Worry about your husband, not about mine,” spews the love goddess viciously. My father sighs next to me and starts to stand up, but before he could do anything, another voice joins into the fight.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sister, sit down and eat your moussaka. We are here to get to know better each other and to change our ways which in the near future leads us to two big wars. So, I kindly ask you to keep your comments to yourself and try to be nicer to everyone.” Lady Hestia is killing it. She doesn’t raise her voice but she is strict and there is no way anybody sane would disobey her. She is like my mom when I disappoint her with some stunt I should have never done. It’s not the words -- it’s the tone! Even I feel chastised.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The Queen Bitch wants to protest, but not even Zeus wants to go against their sister, so everybody sits back to their chair and starts to eat in creepy silence. The only noise is when the fork meets the plate and when we chew the meal. Nobody moves, nobody talks.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, I do a </span>
  <em>
    <span>percy</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So Andersen was a demigod? At the end of his story, the mermaid becomes seafoam - it clearly didn’t happen with Ariana,” I continue the conversation with Persephone like nothing happened. She smiles a little, and leans over Nico, to be closer to me.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, to make sure she won’t run away with the boy, Triton sent her to Boa… to the River Boyne to some water nymphs living there. I think now she is living…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“She is living with us in the palace,” my father interrupts Persephone with a glare. I presume he is not thrilled that somebody else took over one of his anecdotes. “She stays with us because she is still a child, but Triton lets her follow him around as his right hand. She won’t be his successor, but it won’t hurt her to know about the workings of a kingdom.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It is so strange to think about. My father says “she is still a child”, but she is older than me by… millions of years. Or at least by thousands of years. And she is his grandchildren. Like I am her uncle, and I’m younger than her. And she is considered as a child, while we, the literal children are sent to fight in a war. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A few-thousand-year-old goddess is still a child, while an eight-, ten-, twelve-, or sixteen-year-old is a soldier, a canon-folder, somebody, whose only worth is their special ability.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I look at Nico, whose eyes are mirroring my contempt. I knew it before that the gods don’t care about us, about their mortal children, but it’s still repugnant. And they don’t even notice it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Sometimes I regret that I refused to turn into a god.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I don’t want to be a god, but I don’t trust them to not fuck up everybody’s life. They are too comfortable with their forever-life, they are too set in their way to consider us, humans. We have the same blood as they have, yet we are considered lesser than them. Just because we didn’t eat a golden apple or not both of our parents are immortals, or we didn’t do some trials to be </span>
  <em>
    <span>worthy</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It isn't supposed to be like this. Some of the </span>
  <em>
    <span>monsters</span>
  </em>
  <span> are nicer and are more likable to us, demigods than the gods. Like Bessie the ophiotaurus or my hellhound, Mrs. O’Leary. Sometimes I regret that I didn’t accept godhood. Sometimes I regret that I didn’t join Luke, and helped him overthrow the gods and the titans.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I have lots of regrets.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I feel a sharp pain in my shin, where Rachel kicks me. I glare at her but she is not exactly impressed because her glare is even more terrifying than mine. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“Don’t make our job harder!” </span>
  </em>
  <span>she mouths me the words. I quickly glance around to see whether anybody is paying attention to us, but Apollo, Poseidon, and Persephone seem to be in a heated conversation about something ancient history, so I turn back to Rachel and grimace at her.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“</span>
  <em>
    <span>They make it harder! If they wouldn’t be so inflated with their ego, we wouldn’t be here.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> My answer doesn’t seem to satisfy her; her glare becomes even worse.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>“I know that they are awful, but think about our future! And the future of the other demigods! If we screw up right now, we screw up everything.”</span>
  </em>
  <span> She is right. Of course, she is right. Still, I just can’t shake the thought that the gods are almost powerless. Even if they are bigger in number, but we can depend on each other. They can’t. They can’t work with each other as seamlessly as we can.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But no.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I can’t think about rebellion and other things surrounded by the gods. It’s a miracle that they are not hearing my thoughts and try to kill me for them. Maybe it’s because of the Fates. Maybe this is one of their protection.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I hope so.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Niccoló, eat your vegetables!” comes an unexpected reprimand from Demeter, who is sitting next to her underworld-y brother. The mentioned boy blushes and scowls darkly. He mumbles something under his nose but I don’t understand what. “If you have something to say, speak up, boy!” The goddess demands.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, ma’am.” Nico is not happy being in the center of attention. I can understand him - I’m at the center of attention too many times.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Good boy.” The goddess nods, and I feel myself freezing at the words. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Good boy.</span>
  </em>
  <span> The same words, yet it is not giving me the same feelings. Okay, I wasn’t the recipient of these words, still, when she says it, it is degrading, like she is talking to a dog who did a nice trick. “Brother, you should take his example. Moreover, every one of you should eat your vegetables and cereals!” She orders.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Percy’s cookies will have enough nutrition, right?” Apollo grins, but even he loses his smile at Demeter’s cutting glare.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You know it very well that it is not good enough. And you say that you are the God of Medicine… You enable the children’s unhealthy eating. Miss Dare is the only one who eats properly! If I were their mother…” She starts to say something, but fortunately, her daughter stops her from continuing. If she would have said anything wrong about mom’s mothering, I would have definitely done something rash. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mother, that’s enough. They are healthy girls and boys and look, every one of them has at least one type of vegetable on their plate! Please, let them be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Yes. Persephone is now officially my favorite god. She is nice, she is considerate and she managed to stop me from stabbing Demeter.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Great dinner, but maybe we should speed up a bit. I just want to be done with all of this shit. Just… go home and live a normal life. Is it too much to ask for?!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I sense that my father wants me to communicate with him, but I’m not in the mood to deal with more gods, so I occupy myself with the food in front of me. It is not bad, of course, it is not bad - it is literally divine -, but it is not my mother’s food. I miss her. I know this is not the first time to be far from her, I mean, there was a time when I thought she was dead, but… this feels final.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I fear that I will never see her again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And I have to be here and act like I’m perfectly fine with this, that I don’t want to skin the gods and the Fates alive because of their nonchalance.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I’m tired.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But I’m Percy Jackson, son of Sally Jackson, the strongest woman alive, so I have to suck up and deal with everything.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, who wants to help me preparing the cookies? I was thinking that maybe one batch is not enough, so if anybody wants to learn how to bake my mother’s recipe, we could make separate batches.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Do I have weird mood swings?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But I can only deal with everything if I compartmentalize, and don’t let myself listen to my rage.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Write me up! I always wanted to learn how to bake cookies!” says Apollo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would have thought you can’t lie, being the God of Truth… I know it very well that a few years ago you declared that baking cookies should be banned from Olympus,” laughs Hermes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, but that was after Aphrodite’s attempt. She almost blew up the whole building! Of course, I wouldn’t want to learn how to bake from her,” Apollo defends himself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t blame me. It’s not my fault that my husband likes to make traps,” shrugs the Goddess of Beauty shamelessly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, if your lover would have left you alone, and you wouldn’t try to have sex in the kitchen, it would have been completely safe,” says Hephaestus while glaring at his wife and her lover. Uh-huh… The million years-long Olympian drama.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> Honestly, maybe I should just stop stressing about everything, and start enjoying myself. It’s not like they can change their behavior and their thoughts after a few hours, so I should just accept that they are overgrown, overpowered toddlers.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>...and maybe get some popcorn for the next episode of </span>
  <em>
    <span>Power and Passion - An Olympian’s Tale.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>I should sell the rights of this idea to a Brazilian soap opera film studio. I’d be a billionaire. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think it would be the best if every one of us, who would like to learn how to bake Sally’s cookies, should go to the kitchen, while the others relax a bit,” suggests Annie. I nod to her as my thanks and do as she says. I’m actually amazed how many are interested in making some cookie dough: not only Annie, Rachel, and Nico come, but as he said he would, Apollo, my father, Lady Hestia, Aphrodite, and the mother-daughter duo, Demeter and Persephone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s a lot of people.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I don’t want to bake, I just thought maybe you need somebody who can help you manage everything and everybody.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you, but if you want to stay and talk to your mother or want to join Thalia and Artemis, you can go.” I love that Annabeth is always with me, but I know that she always wanted to get her mother’s approval and it’s a great opportunity for her to talk with Athena. Or to be with her “big” sister, who she lost first to Zeus, and now to Artemis. If we have to be here, we have to use our time to make connections, to help the gods understand us, demigods.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I…” Annie bites into her lower lip. She looks stressed out and uncertain, nothing like the determined girl I know and love.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You are afraid,” I state. She glares a bit, but then shrugs and nods. I open my arms and she doesn’t hesitate to hug me. “I can understand why. I have a relatively good relationship with my father, but even I’m cautious of talking to him. So I can accept not wanting to talk to your mother when it’s only the two of you. But Thalia and Artemis? They’d love you to join them. You know that Artemis always wanted you as one of her huntresses, and I think it would be great if you could talk to somebody who is similar to you. Who doesn’t want men in their life as a sexual partner.” I say gently, and quietly to make sure nobody hears me. It’s her choice to make. “And if you’d mention how much you love me and how sad you’d be if </span>
  <em>
    <span>somebody</span>
  </em>
  <span> would turn me into a woodland animal and then shoot me with arrows, I’d be eternally glad.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Annabeth immediately unfolds my arms around her to hit my head, but both of us burst out laughing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you, Seaweed Brain,” she says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And I love you, Wise Girl.” I smile. “Now go, I’ll be fine. I’ll make sure nobody cuts themselves, burns others, or poisons everybody.” The only reaction is eye-rolling, but she smiles and leaves. I enter through the kitchen door, where the others are waiting for me, and I immediately have to cover my eyes, because Apollo decided he wanted to wear a 24K gold apron, which -- it glows and shines and dazzles and blinds.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I never thought about gods wearing aprons, but it truly fits Apollo. A shame, that I can’t concentrate when he is wearing it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m glad that some of you thought about wearing an apron, but it would be great if I could also see things.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Aww, spoilsport.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I just wanted to have some fun,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>But now I can’t wear what I wan’.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m so down</span>
  </em>
  <span>.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I started to think his poems might not be as shit as his haikus, but…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They are. He just didn’t have a reason and time to think out a bad one and that’s why he didn’t recite one before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>How… blessed… I am to hear this.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That was soooo bad,” pops out an honest reaction from Rachel. She pales and slaps her hands onto her mouth, but she can’t unsay it. Fortunately, Apollo seems to be in a fun mood, not in his ancient revenge-filled mode, so he just laughs with everybody else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, okay, I can see my awesomeness is not appreciated,” he says and turns his apron into a muted yellow tone. It’s much better. With too much gold, I couldn’t appreciate his blonde locks, but now they can outshine his apron.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh, shit. I didn't think this, did I?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I jerk my head away from his direction, I don’t want anybody to notice how much I like his looks, but now I have the same problem, just with another person. Persephone ties an ultramarine blue apron on Nico, and I can’t tear my eyes away from him. He always wears black, and it fits him, but… Nico? In ultramarine blue?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It is definitely a sight to behold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you don’t want other people to find out your big secret - which I totally didn’t figure out from the powerful emotions you project! -, maybe you should stop looking at your little demigod friend like he is a blue ice cream sundae with a blue cherry on top. Just a friendly suggestion from your friendly Love Goddess.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I can feel myself blushing head-to-toe from Aphrodite’s whispered words. She doesn’t say anything else, just winks at me and floats away with graceful movements to put her bright pink apron on.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shit, shit, shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Fuck.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Shit.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Okay, okay, cool, she didn’t say it out loud. She just whispered, she didn’t want to out me. She is the goddamned Goddess of Love, of course, she would find out. Even if me having a crush on both Nico and Apollo wasn’t her (or this version of her) doing, of course, she’d figure it out.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>At least she didn’t give me “helpful” advice, or a threat disguised as a promise. She was actually </span>
  <em>
    <span>nice</span>
  </em>
  <span>.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Who would have thought?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay, so, I think maybe we should work in pairs and make not just blue chocolate chip cookies, but other types as well. While those are my go-to favorite snacks, our tastes are different, so I was thinking about making double chocolate cookies, and oatmeal cookies.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Ooh, can we make macarons? I tried it in Paris at a little shop, and I love them!” squeals Aphrodite.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Uhh… I… Sorry, but no. I can only bake cookies, and macarons are not cookies,” I have to break her enthusiasm because I’m not a pastry chef. Baking macarons with only knowing how to make a few types of cookies is like building a skyscraper with the knowledge of how to build a sandcastle. I guess. I don’t actually know, I never tried it, and I never will.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She is pouting, but at least she is not babbling my secret as an act of revenge, so I’m good with it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Persephone and I will make the oatmeal cookies,” Demeter declares, or more like demands. I had a hunch that she would want to make the healthier one. Not only it has oat in it, but my mom makes it with honey instead of sugar. So, extra healthy, right?!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>While I’m thinking about how to divide all these people, I don’t notice Apollo coming closer to me. I only realize when he hugs me from behind, and says, “Dibs on making the blue cookie with Percy!” I freeze and become full red from head to toe. I hope they think it’s because of anger, and not because of embarrassment and attraction. I tear myself from Apollo’s arms - even if they are very inviting and strong and protective -, and move purposefully to the counter. I don’t dare to look at the others, so I start opening and closing the cupboards as if I’m searching for something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well, I do.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Lady Hestia, do we have a kitchen scale? Mom never liked to use cups so her recipes use grams”, I explain why I’m opening and closing the doors.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Let me help you, son”, boom my father’s voice, and he conjures a blue electronic scale with dolphins dancing on it. Oh, my gods! This. Is. The. Cutest. Scale. I’ve. Ever. Seen! I squeal a little and smile at my father, who looks like he got the greatest gift. Well, I guess, he likes the scale too, I mean, we both are from the sea. Blue and aquatic animals are our things.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nice!” I say, and then I start to take out the glass bowls from the cupboard. “So, first, I’ll measure out the ingredients, which… uh…” I look around and I don’t see any fridge or any kind of storage-thing where the ingredients could be. "Could you please get flour, white and brown sugar, butter, milk, baking powder, egg, milk and dark chocolate, cocoa powder, oatmeal, honey, and cinnamon? Oh, and blue food dye as well?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course, dear”, smiles Lady Hestia and suddenly the counter is full of the asked things. Cool power!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Thank you. Now, did you decide which one would you like to make?” I look at each of the beings here.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m doing you! I mean, what you do”, Apollo declares with a wink and smile full of sparkling white teeth. I hope I’m not blushing, because the way he said that… it was an innuendo, wasn’t it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Me too”, says Nico while glaring at the blonde god.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think blue cookies would make an excellent peace offering to Amphitrite”, decides Poseidon. Seeing my questioning look, he frowns but starts to explain it. “She is not happy with me that I want to get a consort for Triton. She says he should continue expanding his horizons. I, on the other hand, think that he would feel better with a supportive partner standing next to him.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>That… that wasn’t what I thought they were fighting about. I thought it was because of another infidelity from my father, or something like that. But matchmaking? Interesting… Maybe the Underwater Palace is different than I saw before. Hopefully…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If she is like us, and loves blue, it’s definitely a good idea!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Phone and I will make the oatmeal cookies”, Demeter declares once again. I’m not a total idiot, I can remember things that happened like five minutes ago. But I’m refraining from rolling my eyes. I don’t want to turn into a wheat seed, or something equally healthy.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course. Then Lady Hestia, Aphrodite, Rachel, would you like to make the double chocolate cookies?” I ask the three ladies.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Sure. Even if I can’t learn how to make macarons, I could give the cookies I made to Ares and Hephy! They both love chocolate, they could use a good happiness hormone,” Aphrodite exclaims. Oh, look! She is thinking about her husband also! I’m honestly curious whether there is something romantic between the three of them. I thought Aphrodite hated and resented her husband, that's why she always cheats on him not only with human lovers, but with Ares, and other gods. But maybe there really is a </span>
  <em>
    <span>story</span>
  </em>
  <span> between them. One, that the myths got wrong.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The myths got so much wrong - that is the only thing I can hope for if I want this crazy quest to succeed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>I measure out the ingredients, while I’m explaining how many grams of flour, sugar, and other things we need. I decided that each one of us will make one batch because the cookies are usually gone in the blink of an eye, so there is no such thing as too many. I show them how to mix together the butter and the sugar, how to add the other ingredients one-by-one, but for some of them, even this is too hard. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>My father is terrible at mixing the ingredients together. I don’t know how he can do it wrong, but he does. The sugar is not incorporated enough into the butter, the butter is chunky in the dough, there is more blue dye on his hands than in the bowl and the chocolate chips are on the floor. It is a mess I don’t want to deal with.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>If he wants his wife’s forgiveness, he should think of another way to do it, because this? This is a nightmare. This is not a “Please, forgive me” cookie. This is an “I hate you and I want to poison you” cookie. I’m just amazed at how bad he is at this. The others are doing well! Aphrodite made two big heart shapes out of hers; Apollo’s have the color of the sky when it meets the sea; Demeter and Persephone are done and their counter is so clean it’s sparkling! Then how in Hades can my father screw up so badly?!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I need an explanation.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Thankfully I didn’t get his usefulness in the kitchen...</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I scoop a little bit from the dough and eat it. I looove raw cookie dough. I think it is the best way to eat a cookie - if I could do it, I would eat the whole batch raw. Apollo also tastes his, and the appreciative moan he does, makes me shiver in delight. I see that Nico takes his bowl into his hands, turns his back on us, and starts to eat the dough with a spoon, but before I could go to him and ask what is the problem, Demeter’s shrill cuts into my father’s desperate mutterings.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do not have me turn around to see you eating my cookie batter,” she warned us when she hears Nico’s chewing. “And just what do you three think you’re doing?” she shouts. “Don’t you know eating raw cookie dough is dangerous?! Do you want to vomit, have diarrhea, fever, or kidney failure? Do you?! Is eating raw flour and eggs worth it? Those are full of germs and contaminated with salmonella or E. coli!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Hm…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nice picture.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She makes a good argument about why we shouldn’t eat raw dough, Nico and Apollo are paling and immediately put their bowl down, but I know the risks. My mom said this all the time, I just don’t really care. If I have to die by food poisoning, it’s still a better way to die than mauled to death by monsters or being smitten by gods. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>So, if I want to eat raw cookie dough, I will eat raw cookie dough! I love it, I had it since I was three years old, I won’t stop now just because Demeter wanted to scare the shit out of me with this stuff! And anyway, how could be something conjured by the gods bad?! Is she telling us that we can’t trust to gods even with our food? That even if they can’t use their godly powers on us, they can poison us?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Maybe she just wants to scare us, demigods, so that we eat vegetables instead of cookies. Tough luck!</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I let Demeter’s complaints fly over my head, I have no patience for her bitching about the unhealthiness of the white sugar, that the flour is a fast-absorbing carbohydrate and that eating raw eggs can be deadly. She is not talking to me, it is not my problem. Noppe, sir.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Gods, please, just… let this torture end soon!</span>
</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>OOC Apollo, just because I refuse to write him as much a self-centered idiot, as he is portrayed in PJO canon.</p><p>I’m pretty sure I’m messing up Rick’s explanation and the ancient beliefs of the workings of the gods, but this is the beauty of fanfictions: I can be totally wrong canonically, but still not wrong because this is my fic, my explanations.</p><p>Καλή όρεξη = enjoy your meal, at least google says so</p><p>Glaucus was the son of Nereus - well, at least in some version. He was mortal and turned immortal upon eating a magical herb. He seduced Ariadne, but Dionysus overpowered him. He had prophetic abilities and Apollo learned from him. </p><p>Nerites was turned into a shellfish - in the version I use - by Aphrodite, who wanted him to follow her to Olympus. He wanted to stay in the sea, thus -- shellfish.</p><p>There is no Ariana named daughter of Triton, not in the myths, nor in PJ, but I didn’t want to use the name Ariel. It’s not like one daughter plus or minus counts.</p><p>What Persephone is really saying is Ariana was sent to Boann, the Irish goddess of the River Boyne, water, fertility, inspiration, and knowledge, but she can’t say it because Percy and the others don’t know about other pantheons. Yet.</p><p>I'm always happy if I get feedback either here, or come visit me on <a href="https://justonemorechaptercoldflash.tumblr.com/">Tumblr</a>! It's a weird place, but at least it is mostly about Nicercy...</p><p>PS. If you have any ideas about what should I tag / what did I left out, let me know about it!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
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